Greater role expected from NGOs

Greater role expected from NGOs

JAKARTA (JP): Non-governmental organizations are expected to
play an increasingly greater role in addressing problems
resulting from the fast pace of development, some experts say.

Speaking at a seminar on future leadership, legislator Nafsiah
Mboi and Malaysian social activist Marina Mahathir agreed
yesterday that if NGOs played their roles accordingly, they would
contribute to the forming of a strong civil society.

Nafsiah said despite the success of economic development in
Indonesia, it had induced what she called "a new face of poverty"
suffered by "vulnerable groups or those left behind".

"It's the poverty suffered by the country's senior citizens in
many villages, women and child laborers, and our street
children," Nafsiah told about 200 participants attending the
seminar organized by the Institute for Management
Education and Development.

She noted that NGOs can play an important role in addressing
the problems.

"We must address these problems. We must wage a war against
exploiters of women and child laborers otherwise it will lead to
hardcore poverty," said Nafsiah who won the Philippines'
prestigious Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 1986
together with her husband, former East Nusa Tenggara governor Ban
Mboi.

Amid these challenges, Nafsiah urged NGOs to become more
professional and pointed to the virtues of discipline, knowledge
and good management as qualities which must be embodied.

Partnerships with the government and "outside worlds" should
also be developed to meet challenging and complicated social
problems, she said.

On the needed leadership qualities of NGOs, Nafsiah said they
must have "heart, brains and competence".

Meanwhile, Marina Mahathir, who is president of the
influential Malaysian AIDS Council -- an umbrella body for 32
NGOs working in the HIV/AIDS field in Malaysia -- said NGOs now
need to become more professional as they would have to compete
with private sectors in recruiting the best human resources.

"In Malaysia, as its economy prospers, most people think more
of working for private companies which offer much higher
salaries. It's difficult to recruit new members, unless a better
salary is offered," Marina conceded.

On the role of NGOs, Marina, daughter of Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said: "They have become more important
in the development of a civil society." (aan)