Hardiyanti serves meals to the needy
Hardiyanti serves meals to the needy
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Social Services Siti Hardiyanti
Rukmana opened a campaign yesterday to lessen the blows of the
monetary crisis by offering 400 free meals to needy workers at
Tanjung Priok Port.
The Managing Impacts of the Monetary Crisis Program aims at
providing the poor with cheap but nutritious meals. It is paid
for by the first-year salaries donated by President Soeharto and
his cabinet ministers, and by donations from business tycoons.
The program will be expanded nationwide.
In Jakarta, the program will offer the 15,000 free meals worth
Rp 1,500 each in the five mayoralties. A meal consists of rice, a
piece of tempeh, vegetables and half an egg.
In the recent first cabinet meeting, President Soeharto
pledged to give his and his ministers' salaries for poverty
alleviation programs in a show of government concern over the
impact of the worsening economic crisis on the poor.
In Jakarta, meals will be prepared by Warung Tegal, roadside
food stalls run by migrants from Tegal, Central Java. The stalls
are most popular among low-income people because of their cheap
prices.
"The five mayoralties are in charge of managing the program
and supervising it," said Hardiyanti, Soeharto's eldest daughter
who is better known as Tutut.
She said her ministry had collected Rp 3 billion for the
program and that more was expected to pour in.
The deputy governor for welfare affairs, Djailani, is to
coordinate the program in the capital along with the five city
mayors.
Mayoralties have each received Rp 40 million to begin the
program. Some 80 food stalls will be involved in each mayoralty.
The needy will receive coupons to be exchanged for the free
meals.
This is a crash program meant to support other national
campaigns launched earlier in a bid to cope with the crisis, she
said.
"This movement will go along with other programs, such as the
distribution of nine basic commodities at affordable prices and
the labor-intensive projects."
Laborers are the program's main target because they bear the
brunt of the economic crisis as prices soar but their purchasing
power decline, she added.
Attending the launching were Minister of Cooperatives and
Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaja, Minister of Women's
Affairs Tutty Alawiah, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung
Laksono and Minister of Health Farid Anfasa Moeloek.
Senior city officials on hand were City Police Chief Maj. Gen.
Hamami Nata, Jakarta Military Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Sudi
Silalahi, Deputy Governor Djailani and all city mayors.
Participating port workers said they were pleased by the move.
After the launching, all ministers in attendance visited the
port's food stalls involved in the program.
Mayors told The Jakarta Post they were ready for its
implementation.
East Jakarta Mayor Sudarsono said he contributed rice worth
almost Rp 21 million to ensure the program's success.
"We are carefully listing the people who will receive the meal
so that there will be no corruption," he said.
Hardiyanti noted that the program was also aimed at educating
people on the need to help others in a time of crisis.
"I hope people will care and be more sensitive to the plight
of others," she said. (edt)