Reconciliation body needs Lee Kuan Yew
JAKARTA (JP): Senior Asian statesman Lee Kuan Yew has been asked to be an international advisor to the National Commission for Truth Seeking and Reconciliation to be set up by leading Muslim figure Abdurrahman Wahid.
Abdurrahman conveyed the request to Singapore envoy Edward Lee who visited him at his South Jakarta residence on Wednesday to symbolically hand over a contribution of rice and medicine from his government.
Abdurrahman, known as Gus Dur, is one of a number of figures attempting to initiate a national dialog in a bid to cool down the political climate.
While there has been no further news of a government plan to establish a national reconciliation team, Abdurrahman has said he was setting up the aforementioned commission.
He said he was inviting national and international figures to be members of the commission and sit on its panel of international advisors.
"For this purpose I ask for the support of the Singaporean government by asking (former prime minister and) Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew to represent ASEAN as an international adviser," Abdurrahman said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The aid presented from Singapore on Wednesday was the country's third package of humanitarian aid to Indonesia which its government chose to channel through the largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which Abdurrahman chairs.
The aid was part of the S$12 million (US$7.2 million) worth of rice and supplies of medicine pledged by the Singapore government on July 6 last year.
Ambassador Lee said: "NU has a wide network throughout the country and it is the right medium to help Singapore channel the aid."
The aid comprised 1,000 metric tons of rice and medicine for people in East and Central Java. The aid is expected to arrive on Thursday.
Lee is also scheduled on Friday to hand over more aid to Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization, at its headquarters here.
The first phase of Singapore's donation -- 10,000 metric tons of rice and medicine -- was handed over for distribution on Aug. 6 last year to Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto.
The second phase of 4,000 tons of rice and medicines was handed over on Oct. 16 to Riau Governor Soeripto.
Transparency
Separately on Wednesday the chairman of the Muslim Community Party (PUI) Deliar Noer said that "political activists" should not be put in charge of distributing the trillions of rupiah in foreign aid intended for small businesses and the poor, to avoid possible misuse of these funds to buy votes.
"We urge the government to be transparent in the distribution of credits to small businesses... regarding those who obtain the credits, on what grounds, and so on, so that the funds won't disappear midway," Deliar said.
Fears over abuse of the funds, which are mostly low interest loans, for money politics was raised earlier by Erna Witoelar, facilitator of a non-governmental organization entrusted to distribute safety net funds from foreign donors channeled through international organizations.
The remainder of the funds are managed by the government.
Erna's network, the Community Recovery Program, last month announced the assignment of US$1.5 billion for several NGOs in rural areas across the country.
In the newly announced 1999/2000 State Budget, the government stated its plans to allocate a significant portion of the development budget to foster small-sized and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives.
This includes Rp 629.21 billion ($84 million) for small-scale industries, Rp 4.39 trillion for the agricultural sector, Rp 224.03 billion for forestry, Rp 175.45 billion for small traders and Rp 1.33 trillion in capital and technical assistance for cooperatives and small businesses.
"It must be ensured that those receiving the assistance are in fact small-scale businesspeople... it must also be ensured that they get proper training," Deliar told The Jakarta Post, following a media conference on the subject. (edt/aan/01)