It's time for more civilians to carry out social work
The pros and cons of the liquidation of the Ministry of Social Affairs are still raging. The Jakarta Post spoke to a number of prominent people from several agencies dealing with social affairs on the impact of the liquidation on their working activities. Related story on Page 3.
JAKARTA (JP): Clad in a dark suit and speaking in a clear voice, President Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, tried again to convince thousands of employees of the now-defunct Ministry of Social Affairs that the state would never neglected their future.
"It would be very hard for you to find different jobs or positions. But, the government will place you in various government agencies," he told a plenary session of the House of Representative on Thursday, which was broadcast live nationwide. His comment was followed by catcalls from the balcony of the building in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
What a rare scene this was as, in the past 32 years, nobody could even cough in this building, especially when the president delivered his speech.
"You in the balcony can shout at me. I really don't mind, but it will never change my decision," the President replied to the noisy spectators.
Gus Dur's decision to liquidate the Ministry of Social Affairs has sparked controversy. His action will affect the lives of 23,000 employees at the ministry and thousands of others at the Ministry of Information, which was also closed by the President.
The Ministry of Social Affairs has been handling various tasks to improve the welfare of Indonesians. But, Gus Dur thinks it is time to give the jobs to civilians.
Sri, an official at the ministry's directorate general for social affairs, said the ministry's employees were still working to complete their projects until March 2000.
"Just wait and see. I don't know what to do. I am sure that we can continue working. There is a lot work to do," she said.
The ministry had been overviewing hundreds of nursing homes, 30 million disabled people and millions of socially disadvantaged people nationwide.
Dr. Lili Rilantono, chairwoman of the Indonesian Children's Welfare Foundation, said that in this transitional period, the Ministry of Social Affairs must resume its activities to help a large number of orphanages, day care centers, nursing homes, street children and various institutions which badly need financial and technical assistance from the ministry.
"These organizations have been designed to only depend on the government's help. This was an erroneous policy. Yet, it would be irresponsible if the government immediately stopped giving them assistance," she said.
The government, in this case the Ministry of Social Affairs, she said, must function as a facilitator. In the future, implementation of all programs should be handled by non- government agencies, private organizations and other related parties and not a government institution.
"It is the right time to empower civilians and private institutions. The government has so far focused solely on social welfare instead of social development," said Lili.
Social welfare refers to passive activities, Lili explained.
In contrast, social development is ways to develop people's positive attitudes and to maximize their emotional, physical and intellectual capabilities in facing their daily problems in order to achieve a more independent, sustainable and democratic nation.
Sorta Tobing, chairperson of the Indonesian Society for the Care of Disabled Children (YPAC), shared similar views with Dr. Lili's.
In her opinion, it is high time for all people and civil organizations to optimize their efforts to improve the welfare of Indonesians.
"For more than 50 years, civil institutions, charity organizations and related agencies dealing with social affairs have been crafted to follow and to create programs in line with the government's requirements," Mrs. Tobing explained.
YPAC, for instance, must make programs that are often unsuitable for disabled children. "We have to carry out such programs because it was obligated by the government," she said.
In dealing with disabled children, YPAC cooperates with several ministries, including the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Manpower.
"You can imagine how difficult it is for us to work with such a lot of government agencies which are full of bureaucracy," she said.
She added that it would take weeks or months to meet a director general at a ministry just to get his signature or to discuss some issues. "If you don't have close friends or relatives in a ministry, don't expect that you can easily meet a high-ranking official there," she said, recalling her own experiences.
The government has always invited us to give suggestions, input, papers on how to improve social services, but none of our work has been implemented, she said.
"How can you solve an important issue promptly if the government officials are unreachable and uncommunicative?" Mrs. Tobing asked. No wonder, they have been unable to resolve so many social problems, she said.
It is expected that the liquidation of the Ministry of Social Affairs will open the gate for YPAC and other civil organizations taking care of social affairs to stand on their own, such as in designing programs and in the provision of financial and technical resources.
It will also strengthen the roles of provincial social affairs offices and agencies and cooperation with local NGOs.
"This means that we should also reposition and up-grade our professionalism and capabilities because we can no longer rely on this ministry," she said.
Strong criticism against the Ministry of Social Affairs had long been voiced by Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium. Not only had the ministry failed to perform its duty to help the needy, it was also allegedly involved in corruption and collusion. The ministry was also notorious for its role as the operator and keeper of the government-sponsor lottery, according to Wardah, who fully supported Gus Dur's decision to close the ministry in line with its policy to give wide autonomy to provincial authorities in 2001.
"Social work should be done by the people. In reality, they have already done it," she said.
Sridjati Mahar Mardjono, a member of the National Social Affairs Board of Committee, agreed private institutions dealing with social affairs must eliminate an image that they are only philanthropic agencies.
"This is a wrong perception by the public. These agencies must grow as social institutions which have social and public accountability to take care of a huge social problems in society," said Sridjati.
In the past, the committee had suggested empowering private institutions and to lessen the roles of the government in social affairs, but the minister of social affairs at that time (in the early l980s) took over the committee's jobs.
"I agree with Gus Dur's plan, but he should first inform and socialize his idea in public discourses. He likes shocking people," said Sridjati.
She said that employees of this ministry must not panic. "As the President said, they will not be neglected. What's more, they can easily work and contribute their knowledge to the benefit of millions of handicapped citizens," she said.
In addition to the ministry's 23,000 employees, the liquidation of the office has also shaken the academic world. Students of Social Affairs Study at the University of Indonesia, for instance, were concerned over their future.
Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo said in a seminar organized last week by the postgraduate programs of the University of Indonesia that graduates of the university's social affairs program should not be worry about not getting jobs.
"They are professionals and scholars who must be able to create their own jobs. They can work as consultants, experts in many fields or set up an NGO working in social affairs," said Wirutomo.
This younger generation should no longer dream of becoming a civil servant. "They have to be broad-minded, professionals and optimistic in creating a new Indonesia," he ended. (raw/ste)