Confusion undermining emergency funds program

JAKARTA (JP): Executives of Village Resilience Boards (LKMD) have been finding it hard to cope with a sudden influx of community development funds worth more than Rp 109 billion due to a lack of guidance.

Executives contacted by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday and Thursday said that boards and local communities did not know what they were expected to do with the money.

"My community think the funds should be used for physical projects rather than disbursed in the form of credits to small scale businesspeople," said Nazar Amir, the head of the LKMD in East Jakarta's Bidara Cina subdistrict.

He said that his board would use 60 percent of the funds for small projects like repairing roads and drainage channels and renovating public buildings and houses of worship, while the other 40 percent would be used to help small-scale businesspeople.

"About 4,000 people, including the unemployed and those living under the poverty line, will be employed on the projects," said Nazar, who has a budget of Rp 1.06 billion to fund the work.

The head of the city development planning board Bambang Sungkono said recently that 265 resilience boards throughout the city would be given funds to help the needy by Friday at the latest.

Bambang said the money was being disbursed under the auspices of the PDMDKE, a program designed to help people cope with the worst impacts of the economic crisis.

He said the scheme was funded by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the World Bank, however Andrea Silverman, who coordinates the World Bank's social development activities, denied that this was the case.

"I should clarify that the scheme was not financed by the World Bank," she said on Wednesday.

Around Rp 106.7 billion of Rp 109.4 billion available under the scheme is to be channeled directly to resilience boards through the state Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). The remaining Rp 2.7 billion has been earmarked for management and operating costs.

Max H. Pohan, a Bappenas official responsible for overseeing development initiatives on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali, said on Thursday that he hoped that government and city officials would not interfere with the implementation of the scheme.

"Bappenas has not issued a directive on how the funds should be used...we believe that the public know what they need and we should respect their decisions," he said.

He acknowledged that funds from the scheme could be misused, but added: "We have no authority over how the funds are used, so we hope the city administration takes responsibility for ensuring that money is not embezzled or misused.

He said the first funds were released under the scheme in November and expressed hope that they would be put to good use given the urgency of the situation facing the country's poor.

However, many resilience boards claim they have yet to receive any money.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, about 50 people staged a demonstration in front of the City Hall to demand greater transparency in the use of the money.

Wardah Hafidz, the head of the Urban Poor Consortium who led the protest, said that clear information and a sensible mechanism to distribute the funds would prevent any misuse.

"We urge non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community groups to get involved in explaining the project to the public," Wardah told the city development planning board during a meeting.

Representatives of residents in seven subdistricts of East and West Jakarta were also present at the meeting.

Tirsyan, who lives in Jelambar Baru, West Jakarta, said that his subdistrict head had asked him to submit a proposal for how to use Rp 5 million.

"I do not know where the money is going to come from. I was told about the project by the PKK women's group," he said.

Tirsyan's neighbor Kurnia said that he had been told that residents were to receive loans from the government, adding that nobody knew where the loans were coming from or how they were to be repaid.

"The subdistrict head told us that the government had some money to loan to the people. But we don't know how much, or where it's coming from, or how it's to be disbursed," she said.

Amir from Kampung Rawa Baru in West Jakarta said that he had never heard of the project.

"Local officials have not said a word about anything like that," he said. (ind/ivy)