Minister defends social safety net program
JAKARTA (JP): Officials insisted on Thursday that a sufficient amount of control of the government's social safety net program was already in place, rebuffing criticisms over the slow distribution of aid and a lack of transparency in the program.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono said there had been no significant problems encountered in distributing the aid, which amounted to Rp 17.79 trillion for the 1998/1999 fiscal year ending in March, to crisis-stricken communities .
"But if it was reported that the disbursement of aid is slow... certain factors may be the cause; for example a lack of planning in provincial administrations," he noted.
On Wednesday, the chairman of the social safety net program's monitoring committee, Mar'ie Muhammad, said the program had not run well due to the "overcautiousness" of government officials in distributing the funds.
Another committee member, Gunawan Sumodiningrat, said that only 30 percent of the aid package had been distributed so far.
Speaking after a ceremony marking the donation of 500 tons of dates from Saudi Arabia, Haryono noted that until last May, when Soeharto's New Order regime ended, decisions on the use of funds were made by the central government.
In the reform era, he said, the regions had a greater input in the disbursement of aid. "The provincial administrations were given a greater freedom to administer the funds based on their areas' special needs."
Haryono said that this created confusion among officials, who needed a period to adjust to the new system.
"A newly-attained freedom to determine projects in accordance to local needs is not so easy to handle... it requires a change in mentality... as they (provincial officials) were so used to being only 'yes men,'" he said.
Changes brought by the reform movement, he stated, resulted in glitches in planning and management, and an inclination to be extra cautious on the part of the officials.
"Actually it's normal for this to happen because we do not want to make mistakes or be blamed if there are, for instance, accusations of 'money politics' tarnishing aid distribution."
Haryono's office received Rp 3.5 trillion from the 1999/2000 state budget to fund its poverty alleviation program.
"The spending is jointly discussed between non-government organizations (NGOs) and community members, including students and officials, in open meetings. This is part of the strong public control mechanism," Haryono claimed.
Separately, an executive of the National Awakening Party, Chofifah Indar Parawansa, told The Jakarta Post that the central government's delay in disbursing the funds was to blame for the slow absorption of the aid.
"The Ministry of Manpower, for instance, only received (the funds) in October... this contributed to late planning because they also had to select NGOs to run the projects."
"This selection of NGOs takes time... especially since the safety net has become a big issue many new NGOs have emerged. We have to be careful not to choose the wrong ones to manage such large amounts of funds," Chofifah said.
Haryono also disclosed a new relief project funded by the Dana Abadi Karya Bhakti charity foundation aimed at giving people better access to cheap credits to start new businesses.
"We started the project by distributing Rp 5 billion each to the East, West and Central provinces of Java to help boost the agriculture business. We are also combining this project with other aid packages," he said. (edt)