Poverty program alarms the poor

Hundreds of poor people from across Jakarta staged a peaceful rally on Monday at the World Bank building, protesting an alleged misinterpretation of the poverty alleviation program being initiated by the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN).

Wardah Hafidz from the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the organizer of the rally, said local administrations could manipulate the City Alliance program, which aims to create "prosperous cities without slums", to justify the use of violence in controlling poor citizens.

"Such terms put urban poor people in danger, as they could be used by local administrations to raid and relocate them out of the cities and sanction the use of force," Wardah said.

The use of violence by the city's public order officers in recent raids against becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors has been commonplace, with the city administration attempting to rid the capital of poor people, Wardah said.

Governor Sutiyoso pledged on Friday to continue operations aimed at maintaining order in the city amid harsh criticism from many non-governmental organization.

"Cities without slums, jointly launched by the WB and the UN, could worsen the situation," she said.

In light of the criticism, the WB's acting director in Indonesia, Vikram Nehru, promised to notify both the WB and UN headquarters of the concerns.

Vikram said his office would also ask the governor to ensure that there would be no use of violence during the implementation of the program.

Wardah said further discussion on the issue would be considered on Wednesday. -- JP