It's time for more civilians to carry out social work

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)