Indonesia pledges to keep Aceh relief efforts free of corruption
Indonesia pledges to keep Aceh relief efforts free of corruption
Bhimanto Suwastoyo
Agence France-Presse/Banda Aceh
Indonesia on Saturday outlined measures aimed at proving to
the world that relief and reconstruction operations in tsunami-
devastated Aceh will not fall victim to the widespread corruption
that plagues the country.
"Not only you, as donors, are concerned with transparency and
accountability, we, as the government, want to demonstrate to the
whole world that we are different from the previous governments,"
Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab told a press conference here.
"Let us show our commitment, let us prove that our commitment
is true," Shihab, who jointly heads the national disaster relief
task force with army chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu, said.
The global community has pledged billions of dollars to the
rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts for Indonesia's
westernmost province, which bore the brunt of the earthquake-
generated tsunamis on Dec. 26.
More than 166,000 people have died in Aceh from the disaster.
There have been concerns aired by both local and international
groups that aid may not reach its intended target because of
endemic corruption that infests all levels of Indonesian society.
Berlin-based graft watchdog Transparency International listed
Indonesia in its latest report last year as one of the most
corrupt countries in the world.
As part of its commitment for transparency, Shihab said the
government would publish each month the amount of aid it received
and what it had spent to finance relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction programs for Aceh.
The first report will be published on Wednesday, exactly a
month after the disaster.
Shihab also said the government and parliament were working to
set up a new body, the Authority Board for Aceh, to oversee anti-
corruption activities for the conflict-scarred province.
The body will be established as soon as possible, he said,
without giving a date. The head of the body will have a
ministerial rank and will be directly responsible to the
president.
Shihab said non-governmental organizations had also been
invited to be a part of the supervisory body.
He said another way to ensure the rehabilitation and
reconstruction process would be free of corruption was for the
donor country and Indonesian government to jointly select the
organizations that will carry out the work.
Donor countries, he said, could also pick, either by tender or
appointment, the executing company from a list of contractors
approved by the government.
"The government will never object to such a decision. The
government wants to see the rehabilitation and reconstruction
process as transparent and as open as possible," Shihab said.
However, he added the government's preference was to use
companies linked to Aceh so the process would involve the
Acehnese.
Shihab said the government was expected to complete a
blueprint for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh in
the next few weeks that could be used as a reference for donors,
but he did not give a specific time frame.
He declined to immediately give figures on the amount of funds
the government had received and spent so far, saying that it
would be made public in the first monthly report.