AusAID set to raise grants to RI by 25%

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.