Activists revive bid to slow CGI meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) renewed calls on Thursday for the country's main aid donors, grouped under the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), to delay their annual meeting scheduled for July 27 and July 28 in Paris.

The activists said that, given its transitional nature, the current administration lacked legitimacy to negotiate with CGI on the new loan commitments from the donors.

They said the meeting should be delayed until a new government was formed based on the results of the recent general election.

"The current administration is illegitimate. The meeting should be delayed until a new government is formed. We hope the new government is trustworthy enough," Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium, said in a meeting between the NGOs and the country's five largest parties, organized by Professional Solidarity for Reform (SpuR).

The chairperson of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Zumrotin K Susilo, also lambasted the World Bank, which chairs the grouping, and the Indonesian government for lacking seriousness in dealing with misuse of the international aid.

"We are opposed to the meeting," Zumrotin said.

One activist proposed a large-scale demonstration to pressure the donors to delay the meeting.

World Bank managing director Sven Sandstrom earlier said that the meeting would go ahead as scheduled despite the calls for a delay from the NGOs.

The deputy for international cooperation at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), Budhi Tjahjati, said last month that based on initial talks with the donors, Indonesia might receive US$4.72 billion in loan commitments at the CGI meeting, as against $8 billion in aid pledges received by the government in 1998.

Secretary-general of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Faisal Basrie said CGI had decided to hold the meeting and no pressure from the activists would be able to force the donors to delay the meeting.

"Thus, NGOs should prepare an alternative scenario in case the meeting goes ahead," Faisal said.

"Like it or not, the current administration is legitimate," Faisal said.

Faisal said Sandstrom had told him in a meeting that the CGI meeting would focus on evaluating the use of the loans received by the government in the previous fiscal year and the remaining loan commitments yet to be disbursed.

Faisal quoted Sandstrom as saying that CGI would also pledge new loan commitments for the current fiscal year during the meeting, but that the details of the projects to be funded by the new loans would be discussed in another meeting with the new government.

"The meeting needs to reveal new loan commitments so that the donor countries could incorporate the commitments in their respective budgets. Otherwise, the new government shall face difficulties in receiving funds for their new projects," Faisal said.

Faisal said the country still needed loans from CGI to finance the developmental projects but the government should gradually cut the size of the loans to limit the country's debt burden. (jsk)