City administration told to help poor fishermen

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has urged the administration to do more to lift the economic status of about 7,000 Jakartan fishing families who live in utter poverty.

According to the ruling Golkar faction of the council, each fishery family earns only Rp 300,000 (US$133) a month, which barely makes ends meet.

"They have no access to bank credit because they have no collateral," Golkar faction spokesman Nasrul Arman said at a plenary meeting attended by city administration officials on Thursday.

"For example, they cannot use their houses in Muara Angke as collateral because they were built on state land," he said in reference to the fishermen's housing complex built with government subsidies.

The Golkar councilor said about 4,000 families who still use traditional fishing equipment are in the worst condition.

The councilor made the comment when the council passed a city regulation on fisheries.

The problem has been aggravated by the Fisheries Cooperative's inability to supply its members with business capital. This fact, Nasrul said, has forced many fishermen to borrow money from loan sharks who demand very high interest rates.

"We hope that Bank DKI also helps the fishermen. Their cooperatives should be empowered to be able to help their members out from poverty," he said as quoted by Antara.

Spokesman for the United Development Party (PPP), Hizbiyah Rochim, stressed the need for the government to help develop the fishermen's cooperative and ease the administrative procedures in obtaining credit.

The Moslem-based party also urged the city government to incorporate decent housing for fishing families in the plan to reclaim more than 2,500 hectares of the northern coast next year.

Independent

The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) underlined the importance of making the fishermen's cooperative more independent.

The party, an alliance of nationalist and Christian forces, proposed that all fishermen and their families should take part in insurance programs sponsored by the government.

"They should be introduced to modern fishing techniques," PDI city council spokesman Imam Sutikno told the meeting.

The PDI also proposed that the number of employees in the city administration's fishery agency be increased from the current 272 to 500 people to improve service.

No faction of the council, which consists of representatives from Golkar, PPP, PDI and the Armed Forces, objected to the bill. (pan)