AusAID set to raise grants to RI by 25%

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Australian government will increase the amount of grants it gives to Indonesia by 25 percent to A$151 million (about US$80 million) for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004, from about A$120 million in the previous year.

"We will increase the amount of the grants because we want to emphasize the good relationship between the Australian and Indonesian governments," Sam Zappia, the counselor for development cooperation in the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), said on Wednesday.

Besides being used to promote better education in Indonesia, a sector that has been Australia's major concern for years, the grants would also be used to assist Indonesia in its preparation for the 2004 elections, Zappia said.

The money given for the elections might reach 10 percent of the total.

After the Oct. 12 bombing in Bali, which claimed the lives of nearly 90 Australians, AusAID added a new strategic objective to its grants: To support counter-terrorism capacity building.

He explained that to counter terrorism, Indonesia should have adequate tools to eradicate money-laundering.

"We provide training for officials of PPATK (the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center), so they will have a better understanding of money-laundering," he said.

The Bali bombing also has prompted the Australian government to strengthen the health system in Bali. Part of the grants will be used for improving infrastructure in the Bali administration's Sanglah hospital, where many of the Bali bombing victims received treatment.

By proportion, according to Zappia, 20 percent of the grants would be allotted to the health sector, 45 percent for education and scholarships, 10 percent for humanitarian aid, 20 percent for promoting good governance and 5 percent for improving the environment.