'Cash payments for the poor a waste of money'

To help offset the Oct. 1 fuel price increases, the government is providing Rp 100,000 a month in cash to poor families who qualify for the assistance. The Jakarta Post asked residents for their thoughts on the government program.

Irwan Setiabudi, is in his 40s and lives in Bintaro, Tangerang. He works for a sports tabloid in Palmerah, Central Jakarta:

Personally, I am not in touch directly with the issue. I only know about the issue from the media. But as far as I can see, the scheme has failed to reach the targeted people. Many poor families who are entitled to the money are not receiving it.

I think the scheme is a waste of money. The recipients will learn nothing from it. They will just go out and immediately spend the cash. This program is all about buying the silence of those people affected by the fuel price increases.

It would be better to use the money for other purposes, like education. The government could help pay the school fees of poor children.

Widyawati Djuana, 30, is a marketing employee at a financial company on Jl. Sudirman. She lives with her husband and baby daughter in Karet, Central Jakarta.

I do not think the money will be received by all the people who need it because it would be impossible to identify everyone who is really poor. People have different standards of living, right?

Besides, cash payments are prone to abuses by unscrupulous officials who may want to use the money for other purposes.

I would prefer the government to use the money for other programs, like purchasing rice directly from farmers at relatively higher prices, and then selling the rice on the market at lower prices. I think such programs would be more helpful than cash payments.

-- The Jakarta Post