Assistance funds a long way off

Assistance funds a long way off

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Siti Nurhayati, 35, a resident of Prumpung, East Jakarta has been
keeping a low-profile for the past three months as she has not
got the money to pay off her debts.

"My family's daily spending eats up my monthly salary of Rp
220,000," said the single parent, who works as a laundry woman to
support her two children.

She grumbled that her family's hardships had increased this
year, with the cost of living outpacing her salary increase.

She said, since January this year, she had to buy extra rice
since the government had halved the subsidized rice given to the
poor to 10 kilograms per month, from 20 kilograms last year.

"Not to mention the soaring prices of basic commodities and
school fees for my two children, who are now at elementary
school, forcing me to provide an additional Rp 35,000 per month
for various educational needs, like books and school fees," she
said.

Siti, who is among 847,473 residents classified as poor in the
capital, may have to wait another three months before she
receives financial assistance from the city administration.

The city administration has allocated around Rp 176 billion to
cover the education costs of students from poor families.

The House of Representatives has also approved the revised
2005 state budget, paving the way for the money saved from
slashing the fuel subsidy to be redirected into financial
assistance programs for the poor.

However, according to a senior city official familiar with the
programs, related city agencies along with relevant departments
of the central government have not completed discussions on how
the funds would be disbursed.

"If all discussions go according to schedule, the assistance
funds could reach the recipients in mid-September at the
earliest," said the official, requesting anonymity.

The official told The Jakarta Post that inter-department
discussions were "very tough and time-consuming due to too many
institutions involvement."

Tuty Kusumawaty, head of the people's welfare division of the
Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda), said the
establishment of the programs was a slow process.

"I have tried my best to obtain the necessary information on
the detailed implementation of the subsidy from relevant
governmental institutions, but so far to no avail," she sighed.

Tuty's division is in charge of coordinating the five
financial assistance programs.

Bappeda's document, made available to the Post, showed that of
the five programs, data was only available on the subsidized rice
for the poor program and education assistance fund.

The government plans to supply a total of 28,278 tons of
subsidized rice this year for Jakarta's poor residents.

"At least 65,572 students from elementary school to senior
high school will receive educational assistance. The fund totals
Rp 5.151 billion, while another Rp 170.8 billion has been
earmarked for schools," the document said.

The Rp 5.151 billion fund will be allocated for needy
students, while the Rp 170.8 billion will be channeled through
schools to help with operational costs, including procuring
books, organizing final examinations and paying substitute
teachers.

No detailed data was available on the other three programs,
which are concerned with health, social work and job creation.

Assistant to the city secretary for people's welfare Rohana
Manggala confirmed the administration was yet to finalize plans
for the implementation of the projects.