Govt dismisses reports of social safety net fund misuse<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and
\nPoverty Eradication Haryono Suyono dismissed on Friday reports of
\nalleged misuse of Rp 8 trillion (US$890 million) of social safety
\nnet funds, arguing it was only a matter of \"imbalance between
\nsupply and demand\".<\/p>\n
Haryono said the only problem facing the government was that
\nthere were more poor people than could be covered by the money
\nallocated for the 1998\/1999 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\"It is not a matter of (the money being given to) the wrong
\ntargets, but not all of the targeted poor people can be helped,\"
\nHaryono said after attending a meeting of the Council for
\nEnforcing Security and Law at the State Guest House chaired by
\nPresident B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
Gunawan Sumodiningrat, deputy head of the National Development
\nPlanning Agency (Bappenas), revealed in a seminar on Thursday
\nthat at least Rp 8 trillion of the total Rp 17.9 trillion social
\nsafety net funds for the 1998\/1999 fiscal year had failed to
\nreach its intended targets, namely laid-off workers and people
\nfacing food shortages.<\/p>\n
Bappenas' deputy head of regional affairs, Herman Haeruman,
\nsaid only about Rp 9 trillion of the funds had been properly
\nchanneled to provide subsidized rice for the poor, and to
\nsubsidize agriculture, health care and education.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has told Bappenas to stop using the funds for
\nlabor-intensive projects and poverty alleviation programs, said
\nHerman.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has delayed the payment of a US$600 million
\nloan to Indonesia, scheduled to be disbursed on March 31, because
\nthe government failed to provide a reliable system to monitor the
\nallocation of the money for its poverty-alleviation program.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
\nalleged the government had used the money to ensure votes.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has pledged Indonesia $4.5 billion as part of a
\nwider bailout package led by the International Monetary Fund
\nbegun in 1997. It increased the pledge to $5.5 billion last year,
\nbut so far has yet to disburse even half of that amount.<\/p>\n
\"Now we are still negotiating with the World Bank, the Asian
\nDevelopment Bank, that (the program) can be implemented more
\nappropriately next year,\" Haryono said.<\/p>\n
Data<\/p>\n
However, he acknowledged the government did not have
\ncomprehensive data on needy people before distributing the fund,
\nand that it was therefore possible the money did not reach the
\nmost impoverished people.<\/p>\n
\"The data is ... not specifically prepared for the social
\nsafety net program,\" Haryono conceded.<\/p>\n
On the same day, State Minister of National Development
\nPlanning Boediono said the government would not stop the program
\nas it would worsen people's suffering.<\/p>\n
\"People will suffer more if it is stopped,\" said Boediono.<\/p>\n
Boediono, also the Bappenas head, expressed his readiness to
\ninvolve more NGOs and students in the program in order to help
\nthe government reach its objectives.<\/p>\n
This offer, however, was criticized by outspoken economist Sri
\nMulyani as a half-hearted gesture. She also pointed out that the
\nruling Golkar party had, through the bureaucracy, claimed the
\nmoney belonged to the party.<\/p>\n
Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of Urban Poor Consortium (UPC),
\ncriticized Bappenas for holding only two workshops, attended by
\n300 people, for the fund disbursement.<\/p>\n
\"How can only 300 participants speak on behalf of the people,
\nwhen the problem is so complex?\" she was quoted by Antara as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
About 1,000 protesters from the City Poor People's Party
\nmarched to Bappenas on Thursday, demanding that the government
\nstop the program because it only increased the burden on people.<\/p>\n
They warned the World Bank would extend the money as a loan,
\nnot a donation, and that future generations would bear the burden
\nof repaying those debts.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Maumere regency, East Nusa Tenggara, a local
\nhealth ministry official has allegedly deposited at least Rp 420
\nmillion of the social safety net fund allocated to the ministry
\nto take advantage of the bank's lucrative interest rate.<\/p>\n
Iskandar, however, insisted he put the money in the BRI bank
\nto enable the office to quickly channel the fund to remote areas.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Bambang Shergi Laksmono, a sociologist at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, claimed that Jakarta city officials
\navoided poor people because they did not trust their ability to
\nrepay the safety net loans.<\/p>\n
\"The officials are afraid of failure if their clients (fund
\nrecipients) do not return the loan, and therefore they prioritize
\npeople who have permanent jobs,\" Bambang said in his doctoral
\ndissertation.<\/p>\n
Bambang defended his dissertation titled \"Understanding the
\nAccess Problem in the Poverty Alleviation Program\" in a ceremony
\nat the university campus in Depok, West Java.<\/p>\n
His study attempted to prove that government officials thought
\nmore about their own careers than serving the public interest.
\nTheir main concern was ensuring that recipients of the fund repay
\ndebts on time.<\/p>\n
The officials had apparently also complained because they were
\ngiven only two weeks to complete their tasks.<\/p>\n
\"Generally, sub-district officials must select, within two
\nweeks, the poorest groups as the recipients of Rp 20 million fund
\nallocated for each subdistrict,\" Antara quoted him as saying.
\n(prb\/yac)<\/p>",
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