Foreigners spent more than locals on Aceh: Report

Foreigners spent more than locals on Aceh: Report

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nearly three months after the tsunami devastated Aceh and North
Sumatra, the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) reported on
Wednesday that foreign aid spent on emergency relief operations
there was almost four times that of domestic spending.

Foreign donors spent Rp 4.6 trillion (about US$495 million) on
disaster victims in the initial phase of the disaster, while
domestic fund raisers used up only Rp 406.3 billion out of the Rp
1.2 trillion they had collected, the state agency said.

The report was submitted by the BPKP and the Coordinating
Minister of Social Welfare Alwi Shihab at his office on
Wednesday.

The report said foreign donors had also distributed 3.8
million kilograms of goods but did not mention the nominal value
of this aid.

Domestic fund raisers including government and private
agencies, meanwhile, channeled 463 million "units" of goods worth
more than Rp 33.5 billion into Aceh.

"Domestic fund raisers have promised that they would spend the
remaining balance (of Rp 803 billion) for rehabilitation and
reconstruction works in Aceh," BPKP head Arie Soelendro said
after the meeting with Alwi.

Arie said the huge amounts of foreign aid were not part of the
Rp 66.2 trillion that had been pledged by donors internationally
to assist the reconstruction of tsunami-hit countries in Asia.

"We don't know yet how much Indonesia will get (from the
pledged fund)." The BPKP report would be used as a reference for
an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), he said.

Among the country's institutions that reported their balance
sheets to the BPKP, private companies were the biggest fund
raisers, collecting some Rp 419.5 billion, or 25 percent of the
total domestic relief fund.

"However, several institutions have refused to give their data
to us and we can do nothing about it. Only their donors can ask
them to be transparent," Arie said.

According to the report, 54 fund raisers had not reported
their balance sheets to the BPKP, including the Indonesian Red
Cross (PMI), private television station Indosiar, oil company
Caltex Pacific Indonesia and state-owned bank BRI.

Arie said the BPKP gathered the data between Feb. 21 and Feb.
25 from 2,131 fund raisers in 370 cities and regencies,
representing 84.2 percent of the total 439 cities and regencies
across the country.

"Due to the limited time, we could not gather data from other
cities or regencies. Since they are newly established or recently
expanded cities and regencies, we consider that the amounts of
donations they have raised might not be too significant," he
said.

Minister Alwi said the report was made based on his request on
Feb. 11 in an effort to ensure transparency and accountability of
fund raisers in the country.

"There are so many negative perceptions abroad about the
transparency in the management of relief funds in Indonesia. If
we can be transparent, it will boost our international image that
we are not a corrupt people," he said.

The report also said Indonesia sent 8,049 volunteers to Aceh,
far outnumbering the 1,797 foreign volunteers deployed to the
disaster area.

Separately on Wednesday, State Minister for National
Development Planning Sri Mulyani said the government would soon
issue a government regulation in lieu of law to help smooth the
settlement of land disputes in Aceh after the tsunami.(006)