Denmark drops RI as candidate for aid<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Denmark has dropped Indonesia as a candidate to
\nbecome one of the country's main aid recipients due to the shaky
\npolitical climate, officials said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Cooperation Minister Anita Bay Bundegaard told legislators at
\na meeting on Tuesday that Indonesia's failure to decentralize its
\ninstitutions and the strength of separatist movements would make
\nDanish involvement \"highly risky,\" the officials said as reported
\nby AFP in Copenhagen on Thursday.<\/p>\n
However, observers in Jakarta criticized the decision and
\nexpressed their surprise over the reasons given by the Danish
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Denmark has listed 18 \"cooperation partners\" from among the
\npoorest developing nations in the world to receive its
\ndevelopment assistance, the news agency reported.<\/p>\n
India and Nigeria were taken off the list late last year and
\nIndonesia, along with Ethiopia and Cambodia, were candidates to
\nreplace them.<\/p>\n
Bundegaard's decision not to bring Indonesia onto the list
\ndrew criticism from the federation of Danish industry.<\/p>\n
\"We deplore this decision ... because we think that Indonesia
\nis an appropriate candidate for receiving Danish aid,\" said
\nfederation official Peter Bo Andersen.<\/p>\n
\"There are 100 million people in Indonesia living on less than
\ntwo U.S dollars per day, which corresponds to the level of
\npoverty required by Denmark to provide aid,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Denmark is a member of the Consultative Group on Indonesia
\n(CGI), a group of major donors to Indonesia, which last year
\npledged US$4.7 billion in loans.<\/p>\n
Hadi Soesastro, an economist at the Center for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS), called Denmark's move \"bad
\ndiplomacy\".<\/p>\n
\"It is a strange decision that doesn't make sense,\" he told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"I can understand if the private sector cancels investments
\nhere because of political uncertainties, but I don't expect that
\nfrom a government aid institution,\" he went on.<\/p>\n
He said that if Danish officials were worried about security
\nconditions, they could postpone several aid projects but not stop
\naid altogether to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
However, Hadi was confident that other countries are unlikely
\nto follow Denmark's decision.<\/p>\n
\"Denmark's move is a single, isolated case. We shouldn't be
\nworried too much about it,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Separately, chief economist at the United Nations support
\nfacility for Indonesian recovery Satish Mishra dismissed
\nDenmark's move as having a minor impact on Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"I would start worrying if Japan, the United States, or
\nAustralia decided to cut their aid to Indonesia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mishra said these countries, which were of geopolitical
\nimportance to Indonesia, showed no sign of intending to reduce
\ntheir aid commitment.<\/p>\n
\"Actually, the U.S. might raise its support to Indonesia,\" he
\nsaid, adding that such a move was likely given the policy under
\nthe new U.S. government.<\/p>\n
Mishra added that a country's foreign aid target depended
\nlargely on its foreign policy.<\/p>\n
According to him, Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Finland
\nor Norway had only minor historical bindings to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
These countries, he said, had their aid priorities closer at
\nhome.<\/p>\n
\"They are large donors to East European countries, in
\nparticular to Russia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
But Mishra questioned the reasons stated by the Danish
\ngovernment to scrap Indonesia as a candidate for additional aid.<\/p>\n
He said that political uncertainties should not have prompted
\ndonor countries to cancel their aid programs.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, some countries in Africa are not entitled to
\nreceive any aid at all, because some of them don't even have a
\ngovernment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mishra said that most donor countries reduce their aid only
\nbecause the necessary funding has been cut from the state budget.<\/p>\n
He speculated that Denmark might have changed its aid
\npriorities or were having a budget cut.<\/p>\n
\"I can't tell, that is an internal matter for Denmark,\" he
\nsaid. (bkm)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/denmark-drops-ri-as-candidate-for-aid-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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