AIDS and NGOs

The government has established a national guidance on handling AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) following the activities of various Non-Governmental Organizations to check the rapid spread of the disease. So far, the government has not yet provided the needed funds, so it is understandable if many NGOs have received financial support from foreign institutions by approaching them individually.

What is interesting is that the government's AIDS program includes a policy which rules that only the government is entitled to manage funds collected from various sources, including foreign ones, and the funds are distributed through one door, i.e. the government.

This ruling obviously reflects the "discriminative" act of the government in handling the non-business sector. Instead of issuing deregulations, as it has done in business sector, the government has restricted the activities of the NGOs in their efforts to check the spread of AIDS. What is the government's real objective in doing so? Bureaucracy will only create stagnation or "bottlenecks," while the AIDS cases are increasing considerably.

DR. ADI SASONGKO

Jakarta