Dead people 'receive' financial aid

Wahjoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang

Further reports emerged nationwide on Wednesday of the inaccuracy of data used to determine who is eligible to receive cash assistance from the government to offset higher fuel prices.

In North Barito regency, Central Kalimantan, two dead people were issued the fuel compensation cards, while in Malang, East Java, a number of wealthy people were mistakenly included on the list of the poor eligible for the assistance.

The head of the North Barito Statistics Office, Teras Rumbang, said on Wednesday his office became aware that two dead people had been issued fuel compensation cards after reports from residents.

"What probably happened is that when the statistic officers went around the two were still alive," said Teras.

Teras said his office was open to people who wished to report mistakes in the government assistance program.

Asked about the possibility that wealthy people had been incorrectly included on the list of people eligible for the assistance, Teras said his office would remove anyone from the list who did not belong. He said the regency administration would also demand that anyone who mistakenly received assistance return it to the government or face prosecution.

Eligible families will receive Rp 100,000 per month in cash from the government, delivered quarterly. The money is being distributed nationwide to cushion the impact of the Oct. 1 fuel price increases.

At least 20 wealthy family in North Barito regency have received the fuel compensation cards, Antara reported.

Separately, a senior government official in Malang acknowledged that mistakes had been made in gathering data on those eligible for the program.

The errors were detected when some poor people complained they had not received assistance while their wealthier neighbors had, said Sutiarsi, the administrative assistant to the Malang municipal administration.

"The inaccuracies could have occurred because the data was only gathered over two weeks in August," said Sutiarsi.

She said the Malang Statistics Office had proposed to the central government that 27,700 families receive the assistance, but the central government only approved 24,256 families. The statistics office then re-verified the data, which resulted in only 23,346 families being ruled eligible for the program.

"Only 576 families have not yet received their money," said Sutiarsi.