Complaint center called for to help monitor cash aid program
Complaint center called for to help monitor cash aid program
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Following numerous reports of errors in the distribution of fuel
compensation cards in the capital, the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation (YLKI) is calling for the establishment of a complaint
center to help protect poor residents.
The central government, through regional administrations, is
delivering cash assistance of Rp 100,000 a month to poor families
across the country to help offset the effects of the recent fuel
price increases.
However, there have been numerous reports that thousands of
the fuel compensation cards needed to claim the assistance have
fallen into the hands of people who do not qualify for the
program, including civil servants.
YLKI member Sudaryatmo said on Saturday the Central Statistic
Agency (BPS) was not equipped to document every poor resident
across the country.
"From the beginning we have objected to the way the cash is
being dispersed, as it is difficult to determine who is poor and
who is not. The way the program is set up is also prone to abuse.
They should have realized the quality of government officials at
the subdistrict level," he told The Jakarta Post.
Sudaryatmo said the only way to make sure every poor resident
received the cash assistance was for the government set up a
complaint center that was fully accessible by the poor.
"They would also be able to file reports on the misuse of
funds in the program. That kind of participation would allow the
government to monitor the program," he said.
Sudaryatmo, however, said such a center would be useless
unless the government followed up on every complaint and report
filed by the public.
He said the government could cooperate with credible non-
governmental institutions to establish the center.
To help offset the effects of the fuel price increases that
took effect on Oct. 1, the government is giving Rp 100,000
(US$10) a month to poor families across the country. The
government is using data from the BPS to determine who qualifies
for the assistance.
In Jakarta, 101,219 poor families were initially registered to
receive money under the program.
However, there are growing concerns over the accuracy of the
data, with many experts saying most of the recipients of the cash
do not qualify for the program.
Last week, the BPS acknowledged it had made mistakes with its
data. Subsequently, the agency removed 3,539 families from its
list of those entitled to receive the cash assistance.
Meanwhile, the head of the statistical analysis division at
BPS Jakarta, Tefi Mathias, said his office had been checking over
the initial data for the past three weeks.
"We have found that many families and neighborhood unit heads
falsified their data. For instance, many neighborhood unit heads
who are not poor were included on the lists," he told the Post.
Tefi said all 250 officials at BPS Jakarta had gone door-to-
door to verify whether families on the list of recipients really
qualified for the money.
He said his office would finish the verification process on
Monday.
"We have finished the verification in Central Jakarta, North
Jakarta, South Jakarta and West Jakarta. On Sunday, we hope to
finish verifying families in East Jakarta. We will announce the
results on Monday," Tefi said.