Assistance funds for low-income people disbursed

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following the House of Representatives' approval last month of the 2005 state budget revision, the government has disbursed Rp 13.39 trillion (some US$1.36 billion) in assistance funds for low-income families across the country.

"The Ministry of Finance has begun disbursing the funds, which is expected to reach the end-recipients within one to three weeks from now," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said on Tuesday.

The funds come from money saved on the massive fuel subsidy after the government increased the prices of some fuels earlier this year.

Alwi said the Rp 13.39 trillion consisted of Rp 6.27 trillion (about $639 million) for the education sector, Rp 3.78 trillion for health care and Rp 3.34 trillion for rural infrastructure development.

Alwi said the disbursement had been delayed by about six months because of the prolonged deliberation of the budget revision at the House, which insisted the government implement a more effective disbursement system.

Explaining the disbursement of the assistance funds for the education sector, Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo said the money would be disbursed directly to the principals of recipient schools.

Bambang said 172,000 elementary schools throughout the country would receive Rp 235,000 for each of their students, and 33,000 junior high schools would receive Rp 365,000 per student.

Selected vocational and high school students will receive assistance through scholarships.

"If the money is enough to cover the schools' operational costs, then the schools will not be allowed to request any fees from their students," he said.

Bambang expects this scheme will lead to the existence of "free schools" in the country in support of the government's nine-year compulsory education program. He hopes that free education for all students will eventually become permanent when the government is able to allocate at least 20 percent of the state budget for education by 2009.

Regarding assistance funds for health care, Alwi said the money would be disbursed to some 36 million low-income families and individuals through state health insurance company PT Askes.

Underdeveloped villages in the country will be prioritized in the disbursement of funds for rural infrastructure development. Villages will receive Rp 150 million each for the construction of roads, bridges, irrigation dams and drinking water facilities.

Separately, the head of the finance ministry's Economics, Financial and International Collaboration Studies Agency, Anggito Abimanyu, said the government was considering disbursing assistance funds directly to low-income families beginning next year.

"We could start by improving the distribution of subsidized rice for the poor and then providing fertilizer for farmers," he said.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie agreed, saying that improving the focus of the fuel subsidy would eventually mean reducing the subsidy for industries and transferring this money directly to the needy.

Disbursing subsidies directly to the poor, however, would require the Central Statistics Agency to prepare a more comprehensive database of low-income families in the country.