Accusation on scam denied

JAKARTA (JP): The city office of the Ministry of Social Services denied on Friday accusations from a group of disabled people that the office had embezzled funds allocated to purchase artificial limbs for the handicapped.

Head of the office's disabled people's affairs, Yugiyani, asked that the disabled prove the charge.

"I'm ready to face their accusation even under police questioning," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said the artificial limbs were supplied free of charge, even though she admitted that the products were of low quality.

The head of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Advocating Committee for the Disabled, Azwardi Ujang, accused the office on Monday of having embezzled funds allocated for the procurement of artificial legs.

Ujang said on Friday, however, that it was Yugiyani herself who had asked the handicapped last month to purchase 10 low- quality artificial limbs at between Rp 1.4 million (US$140) and Rp 1.7 million each.

The artificial legs to be given to the recipients normally cost only Rp 300,000 each, he said, adding that the products had were of unrecommended materials like plastic pipes, foam rubber and sheet iron.

Standard quality limbs are made of fiber plastics, high quality rubber and steel.

The head of the office's programs, Abdillah, who is also in charge of the prosthesis project, said the office could not provide artificial limbs of good quality due to skyrocketing production costs and the brief manufacturing period of the products.

"I will ask the management of PT Indoraya, the producer of the artificial limbs, to improve the quality of the products next week," he said.

Abdillah said an improvement in quality was expected within one month.

He said each artificial leg cost about Rp 675,000.

The social services office promised earlier to provide 18 artificial legs to the handicapped under its annual program. (ind)