Bogor residents rush to receive aid
Bogor residents rush to receive aid
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
It was still too early in the day for most office workers, but
the queue in front of the Cibinong Post Office in Bogor, West
Java on Monday had already begun since daybreak.
Monday was the first day of the fuel compensation fund
disbursement for the poor in six districts of the Bogor Regency
and people had come in as early as 5 a.m. to avoid waiting in a
long queue.
"Immediately after I receive this money, I'm going to buy
kerosene and rice," Nawiyah said as she waited patiently in the
queue.
The 50-year-old said that the money she makes from bathing
dead bodies was far from sufficient for her daily needs and that
she was thankful for the Rp 100,000 (about US$10) cash.
"I only receive Rp 25,000 for bathing a dead body and even
then I have to give half of that to my sister for helping me,"
Nawiyah, who came from Curug Kampong, Pakansari Village, Cibinong
District, said.
However, Nawiyah does not bathe a dead body every day.
Another woman, Sampah, from the Cipayung Village in the same
area, said that since the price of kerosene had gone up from Rp
700 to Rp 2,000 a liter, she was forced to use firewood as fuel
and buy poor quality rice.
"In my village kerosene is sold at Rp 3,000 a liter," she
said, while waiting for her turn.
Poor people are the ones hit hardest by the government's
recent decision to increase fuel prices by an average of 126.6
percent, particularly since the price of kerosene -- used by the
poor as cooking fuel -- nearly tripled in the process.
To offset the effects of increased fuel prices on low-income
families, the government devised a scheme whereby households with
a combined income of less than Rp 700,000 a month are to receive
cash assistance of Rp 100,000 per month.
The Bogor Statistics Agency head Anaszri said that the
disbursement of the funds in the area was organized through the
Bogor Central Post Office, Cibinong Post Office and Sawangan Post
Office, of which the largest amount -- about Rp 43.178 billion --
was disbursed through the Bogor Central Post Office.
The Bogor Central Post Office will then distribute the money
to poor people in 22 districts in the Bogor Regency, with the
first round on Monday going to people in the Cibinong, Babakan
Madang, Jasinga, Tamansari, Citeureup and Cijeruk districts.
Deputy head of the Bogor Central Post Office Djajar Sudjianto
said that there are 143,929 poor families registered to receive
the compensation in the 22 districts.