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.