TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Great Indonesia Movement Party’s (Gerindra) deputy chief patron Hashim Djojohadikusumo said Sunday that the party’s presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto would refrain from using nuclear, which the latter deemed to be dangerous, as alternative energy if elected president.
“Prabowo learns from what happened in Fukushima,” he said.
In the 2014 state budget, the government has earmarked Rp210.7 trillion for 48 million kiloliters of fuel. Fuel subsidy has increased by Rp10.8 trillion compared to last year’s Rp199.9 trillion.
Alternative energy has become an important issue ahead of the July 9 presidential election.
Presidential and vice presidential candidates of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla have designed a program to reduce fuel subsidy gradually in the next four years and replace it with alternative energy. The Gerindra Party’s candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa, meanwhile, promotes a program of imposing surcharges on the rich using subsidized fuel.
According to Hashim, the nation can resort to other alternative energies such as geothermal, solar, and wind energies to replace fuel. He added nuclear energy would also require scrupulous maintenance. “Indonesia is weak in maintenance,” he said.
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