Honest monkey business

JAKARTA (JP): Some villagers in Indragiri Hulu, Riau, have spent the money they received as part of a presidential aid to purchase monkeys, not for pets but rather to help them gather coconuts from tall palm trees.

"It's all perfectly legal as long as it has economical value," Indragiri Hulu Regent Ruchiyat Saefuddin was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

"Rather than compelling them to buy a cow, why not let them buy something which they see as more productive," Ruchiyat said.

The government has plunged packets of Rp 20 million into thousands of poor villages in Indonesia under a presidential aid program. The program allows the recipients to decide for themselves how they want to productively spend the money. Local officials are only supposed to supervise.

Ruchiyat said villagers who bought monkeys earn between Rp 20,000 and Rp 30,000 a week.

That's no monkey business in impoverished villages. (emb)