Minister defends social safety net program

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)