Government says Aceh funds used in context of emergency

Rendi A. Witular and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Criticism aired by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that the relief effort in the tsunami-stricken province of Aceh had "too many chiefs" thereby making the audit of the humanitarian relief funds difficult received a defensive response from Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Kalla argued that the situation in Aceh was an emergency and the government had taken the necessary actions to ensure that reconstruction efforts were in progress.

"It should be understood that the accountability of the financial aid is shared by different ministries and agencies because of the emergency situation," he told a press conference on Friday.

"I hope everyone can make a distinction between actions taken in an emergency situation and under normal conditions."

Kalla promised that the government would be transparent and demonstrate good governance in managing the funds, including conducting an open tender for reconstruction projects in the near future.

The BPK also blamed the National Disaster Coordinating Body (Bakornas PBP) for its poor coordination making it difficult to conduct an audit on the funds since the latter refused to serve as a supervisor of the funds.

But Kalla defended Bakornas, saying the body was only tasked with coordinating all the government institutions involved in the relief effort, while each of the institutions had the right to disburse their own funds.

"There is a misunderstanding here. The funds are not managed by Bakornas. For example, logistics is handled by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) while road construction by the Ministry of Public Works. Therefore, the audit should be conducted on such agencies," he said.

The BPK claimed on Thursday it was facing difficulties in auditing the use of the funds due to the presence of more than one authority in charge of the funds. The agency said the Office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, the military and Aceh provincial administration had used the aid without proper coordination.

The BPK has so far recorded over Rp 40 trillion (US$4.33 billion) in aid funds distributed in Aceh. The funds consisted of some Rp 39 trillion from foreign donors, Rp 163.9 billion from state enterprises and Rp 894.38 billion from the public.

Worse still, BPK said, the financial report on the use of the humanitarian funds was not made in accordance with the existing accounting standards, making it more difficult for the agency to conduct a proper audit on the funds.

The BPK fears that the poor management of the funds will undermine the already low confidence of the international community in the accountability of the government in disbursing financial aid to Aceh.

Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said the government had urged all supervisory agencies to be active in supervising the use of the funds in response to BPK's findings.

"The President has called all parties to follow up the BPK report and that the disbursement of the aid will be placed under one roof once the government implements the Aceh reconstruction blueprint," he said.