Funds disbursed to empower youth organizations
Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda, East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan provincial government will immediately disburse Rp 50 million (US$6,250) of funds to each youth organization or department affiliated with political parties here, a councilor has said.
The disbursement of the funds is aimed at empowering either the youth organizations or departments (affiliated with political parties) in the province, Kasyful Anwar As'ad, the deputy speaker of East Kalimantan provincial council, said on Friday.
"The funds, which are taken from the provincial annual budget, can help finance their activities," he told The Jakarta Post at his office.
As the number of political parties in the East Kalimantan province is huge, the distribution of funds will be limited to either youth organizations affiliated with, or youth departments within political parties represented in the council, he said.
The provincial administration has identified three youth organizations eligible for the funds, namely Golkar Party's Youth Movement (AMPG), the National Mandate Party's Youth Front (BM PAN) and the United Development Party's (PPP) Ka'bah Youth Movement.
A different arrangement has been made for other political parties, which do not have youth organizations affiliated with them. For those political parties, the provincial government will disburse funds for each youth department within the political parties.
Those political parties are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), the Nadhlatul Ulama Party (PNU), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Justice and Unity Party (PKP) and Krisna Party.
According to Kasyful, the planned disbursement of funds has been agreed upon by both the East Kalimantan provincial administration and the legislative council.
Separately, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) activist lashed out at the planned disbursement of funds, saying that the plan was squandering and wasteful.
"The staggering funds will merely be used for practical purposes, such as political campaigns and (ordinary) people will certainly get no benefit from it," said Hamdani, the executive director of the political party watch dog in the province, the Political Watch.