Officials fear empowering the masses

Officials fear empowering the masses

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The concept of empowering the people to
promote national development has been slow to catch on among
government officials, State Minister for National Development
Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita said yesterday.

The concept has gained acceptance and been promoted in a
number of publications around the world, Ginandjar said.

"The sad thing is that putting it into practice here has not
been easy," the minister said during a seminar to review the
national development strategy.

The three-day seminar is being held to commemorate the 15th
anniversary of the University of Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta.

Ginandjar, who chairs the National Development Planning Board,
said many thinkers and policymakers here are not aware of the
gains empowerment could bring to Indonesia.

"They are holding on to old theories and cannot adjust to the
demands for justice," he said. "They are not comfortable with the
concept of people participating in development."

In fact, he added, "They are terrified of the people."

Many government officials still feel that the top-down
approach is the best way. They believe that the people do not
know what is best for them and therefore need constant guidance
and supervision, he said.

This results in government policies that are ineffective and
inefficient, and eventually obstructs progress itself, he added.

Such thinkers and policymakers feel that poor people are poor
because they are ignorant, lazy and in need of constant guidance,
Ginandjar said. The anti-poverty drive has become more like
charity than an effort to empower the poor.

He recalled that a governor once remarked that nobody was poor
in his province. "They are just ignorant," he said, quoting the
governor without mentioning his name.

The minister said that one government policy that does seek to
empower the poor is the Presidential Aid for Backward Villages,
known by its Indonesian acronym IDT.

Under the program, the government allocates Rp 20 million per
village classified as poor. The money is to be used as seed
capital for people to start their own small enterprises.

Launched in 1994, Ginandjar said the IDT program has been
"quite successful."

The few failures that there have been, he said, were due to
village heads who embezzled the funds.

Muhammadiyah Chairman Amien Rais in his presentation said that
the Indonesian economy is now too dominated by powerful
conglomerates.

"That means that the quest to attain social justice and shared
prosperity has become even more difficult. What we see is now the
rich getting richer and the poor poorer," said Amien, who is also
a political lecturer at the local Gadjah Mada University.

Other speakers scheduled to address the seminar include
economist Mubyarto and political scholars Sayidiman
Suryohadiprodjo and Sofjan Wanandi. (02/har)