Minister urges probe into refugee aid embezzlement
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah called on the North Sumatra authorities to investigate thoroughly the alleged embezzlement of funds worth more than Rp 36 billion (about US$4 million) earmarked for Acehnese refugees currently stranded in temporary camps in the province.
He said North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin had to account for the distribution of the funds to the remaining 4,000 people who have been taking refuge in Medan and its environs since the situation in Aceh escalated three years ago.
"The central government has disbursed almost Rp 100 billion to the provincial administration to resettle a total of 11,000 refugees, and to simultaneously end the refugee problem in the province. The local government there must be held responsible for the funds that have not yet been distributed to the remaining 4,000 refugees," he said here on Tuesday.
Bachtiar was accompanying Vice President Hamzah Haz on a visit to evaluate the implementation of the Malino peace accord in the once-troubled regency of Poso. Also accompanying the Vice President were Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri, Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agiel Al Munawar and State Minister for the Empowerment of Small and Medium Enterprises Ali Marwan Hanan.
At least two refugees have died and several others are in intensive care in the hospital in Medan after staging a hunger strike to demand the local government disburse the resettlement funds. Hundreds of other refugees are now camped out at the North Sumatra legislative council building after the provincial administration failed to respond to their demands.
Bachtiar added that many sides, including a number of non- governmental organizations, had allegedly tried to take financial advantage of the resettlement program by encouraging the refugees to participate in demonstrations.
He said the social affairs office, which now comes under the provincial administration following regional autonomy, had prepared a database on the number of Acehnese refugees in the province.
"Of course, the provincial administration has recorded that there are some 4,000 refugees who have received resettlement funds. However, some of those camped out at the provincial legislature building are not refugees as their identities are not recorded in the database," he said.
He admitted that a number of staffers in the provincial social affairs office were involved in the embezzlement of the funds and that they ought to be brought to justice.
According to the resettlement program, refugees are entitled to a total of Rp 8,750,000 each to build modest homes and to survive for three months.
"The governor should order the police and the prosecutor's office in Medan to investigate this corruption," Bachtiar said, adding that it was intolerable as besides committing crimes, the corrupt officials were also stealing humanitarian aid earmarked for refugees.
The minister said further that the refugees would be allowed to return to their home villages in Aceh if the situation there improved.
"The government has never prohibited them from returning to Aceh. But it will be difficult for them to do so as even with the cessation of hostilities agreement, the situation in the province has yet to return to normal," he said.