Govt program for laid off workers hailed

JAKARTA (JP): Observers have applauded the government's program aimed at helping laid off workers and the poor, but warned that strong control mechanisms were needed to ensure nothing goes to waste.

Sociologists Paulus Wilutomo and Wardah Hafidz said the idea of helping people affected by the crisis was good but needed careful planning and explicit control mechanisms.

"Donations and financial assistance must be carefully designed. Otherwise, there could be misappropriation and the aid could go to the wrong people," Paulus told The Jakarta Post Saturday.

"The program's management must be open to the public, especially when it deals with donors' money," Wardah separately told the Post.

Both Paulus and Wardah were responding to an announcement by the minister of social services, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, who said Friday that the government was working on a plan to develop both immediate and long-term programs to deal with the social impact of the monetary crisis.

Hardiyanti said two large private conglomerates had donated Rp 3 billion (US$294,000) each to the program.

She said the program would range from distributing free meals to laid off workers to finding new jobs for those who have become unemployed as a result of the economic slump.

Hardiyanti, who is President Soeharto's eldest daughter, said the program would also include financial assistance for small Warung Tegal (roadside) food stalls, so people would always be able to buy cheap meals from such places.

Paulus argued that the program would only be effective if the free meals for the poor and the financial assistance for small- scale businesses directly reached the parties in need.

"The government should provide coupons to be used by the poor to get the meals from appointed food stalls and kiosks," he said.

He, however, added that the coupons should only be given to people who were really poor and needed the government's help.

"I suggest the government establish committees in neighborhood units, involving influential people in the neighborhood, to select the appropriate people," he said.

In the long run, Paulus said, the government should distribute financial assistance to the small-scale informal sector, which would absorb a large number of manpower.

"Bank soft loans should not merely be given to a limited number of conglomerates anymore, but to a large variety of informal sector businesses," he said.

Wardah said the government's financial assistance program should not be a top-down policy as it could fail to reach the people who really need the assistance.

"The government should include activists of non-governmental organizations and religious groups, as well as social workers," she said, "Because they know better than the government who the eligible recipients are."

Wardah, who is active in various social care programs in the city, said non-governmental organizations knew about such programs because they had started similar programs on a smaller scale.

She added that the involvement of non-governmental organizations would also help control the program's financial management.

"Without a proper control mechanism, the project would only act as a charity program and provide legitimacy to the government's claim that it has jobs to do and cares for the poor and for laid off workers," she said. (imn)