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)