Foundation given mixed response
Foundation given mixed response
JAKARTA (JP): The establishment of a private foundation to manage donations for the poor from firms and wealthy people received a mixed greeting from politicians in the House of Representatives yesterday.
The United Development Party (PPP) welcomed the birth of the Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation with reservations. It proposed that the funds should be included in the state budget for greater accountability.
Politicians from Golkar, the ruling party, also gave their support to the plan aimed at speeding up equal distribution of the development cake.
But the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) rejected the scheme on the grounds that any institutions concerning public interests should be regulated by a law passed by the House, not by a lower presidential decree.
The PDI also argued that a presidential decree cannot be used to regulate a private concern.
The foundation was established as a follow-up to Presidential Decree No. 90/1995 and introduced to the public Monday. It is a private entity aimed at helping the government alleviate poverty.
Two percent
The decree requires companies and individuals whose after-tax incomes amount to more than Rp 100 million a year (US$43,470) to set aside up to 2 percent of their earnings to the state- sponsored poverty eradication program.
"The spirit (of setting up the foundation) should be backed. But we want it to be transparent and accessible to public scrutiny," said Hamzah Haz, chief of the PPP faction in the House.
He said the PPP has no objection to the foundation managing the fund so long as it is open to supervisory bodies such as the House and the Supreme Audit Agency.
House member Aberson Marle Sihaloho of the PDI said his party is not opposed to the latest move to help the poor but it rejects the use of the presidential decree as the legal basis.
"The PDI faction demands that the President must revoke his decree," Aberson told The Jakarta Post.
He pointed out that the Constitution requires any policy concerning the public's interests to be made in consultation with the House of Representatives.
What the government should do, he said, is to create a state foundation which is answerable to the public.
A spokesman for the Golkar faction in the House, Mochamad Suparni, praised the government's move as a "concrete step to materialize social solidarity."
"This is an honorable step in the efforts to speed up equal distribution of the development cake," he said when presenting the faction's view on the draft of the 1996-97 state budget Monday.
The Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation is chaired by President Soeharto in a personal capacity. Tycoons Sudono Salim (Liem Sioe Liong) and Sudwikatmono and State Minister for Population/Chairman of the Family Planning Coordination Board Haryono Suyono are his deputies.
Bambang Trihatmodjo, Soeharto's son, was appointed treasurer and Anthony Salim, Liem's son, deputy treasurer. Minister of Cooperatives Subijakto Tjakrawerdaja is the secretary.
The finance minister has yet to issue rulings on technical details about the implementation of the decree which, informed sources said, will start in March, the deadline for the filing of the 1995 income tax returns. (pan)