Officials' integrity in distributing aid doubted

Officials' integrity in distributing aid doubted

JAKARTA (JP): Only two days after the launching of a new aid
package for poor villages, a senior official said he has doubts
that the money will reach their intended recipients intact.

The Rp 20 million (US$9500) packets are being distributed to
more than 20,000 villages which qualify under the presidential
aid program for backward villages, which was officially launched
on April 1.

"They'll be lucky to receive Rp 18 million," State Minister of
Administrative Reform T.B. Silalahi was quoted by the Antara news
agency as saying on Saturday.

"I have my doubts about the integrity of the officials
handling the package, their lack of consciousness and their poor
attitude about being good public servants," Silalahi said.

He was speaking in Jayapura, capital of Irian Jaya, where he
presented the fund for a number of projects to be handled by the
province in the 1994/95 fiscal year.

"The money is bound to be reduced by a hefty amount before it
reaches the villagers," he said.

He said the government has estimated that by the time the
money reaches the villages, the package may have been cut to Rp
18 million in order to pay for overhead costs.

The aid scheme is part of the government's campaign to
eradicate poverty in the Sixth Five-Year Plan (Repelita VI),
which also got underway on April 1.

An official survey found that 25.9 million people, or nearly
14 percent of Indonesia's total population, still live below the
poverty line as determined by a minimum daily calorie intake of
2,100. In terms of monthly expenses, this comes to Rp 27,905 per
person in urban areas and Rp 18,244 in rural areas.

The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), which
oversees the new aid package, has insisted that the money should
remain intact when it reaches the recipients and that any
overhead costs incurred in channeling the funds should be taken
out of the local administration's coffers.

Cooperatives

The packages would be distributed to local organizations,
formal or informal, such as cooperatives or neighborhood groups.
The money is intended as a seed capital for whatever activities
these groups intend to organize, including loan schemes, but it
is hoped that the fund will grow over time.

Silalahi said the aid package is intended to help develop the
economy of the backward villages and improve the incomes of the
inhabitants.

"I appeal to all officials involved in distributing the
package to put the people's interest first so that the money will
arrive intact, or if it must be reduced, it should fall within
normal levels," he said.

Much depends therefore on the mentality of the officials, he
added.

President Soeharto, in a message to local governments at the
launching of the new Five Year Plan on Thursday, said the
integrity of the government now depends more on their records
because they have been given greater autonomy in administering
their respective regions. (emb)