Regent denies famine hits Donggala regency
JAKARTA (JP): A government official denied yesterday that 12 people had died of starvation in Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, and that thousands of others were facing the same fate.
Donggala Regent Syachbuddin Lobajo said the region had an ample supply of food and as it was one of the rice bowls of the province it was impossible for people to die of hunger.
"Even now there's a surplus of rice stock. We cannot accept the (reported) deaths," he told The Jakarta Post.
Syachbuddin was commenting on an Antara report Thursday, that 12 people had died of starvation in the village of Palasa in the drought affected Tomini subdistrict.
The agency reported that Mahmuddi, the head of the regency's social services, had given a list of victims released by his office. They include Maiya, 50 years; Singne, 30; Galib, 55; Sameria, 60; Aisya, 40; Alim, 35; Arjang, three; Daniel, 40; Utti, 30; Paulus, 12; Banetal, 45 and Uti, one year old.
Mahmuddi was also quoted as saying that the local health office had confirmed that the deaths, which took place between Sept. 6 and Oct. 7, were caused by malnutrition.
Syachbuddin said yesterday: "There have been no such deaths."
He said he visited Palasa village in Tomini soon after reading a report on the deaths in the local daily, Mercusuar, Tuesday, only to find that the report was "untrue".
"That day I took with me a ton of rice to Tomini, which is 200 kilometers north of the capital Palu. But the subdistrict head and village heads there told me no one had died of starvation in their areas.
"Yes, there has been drought in the region, but rain still falls intermittently and I saw people carrying their harvest to the market," he said.
Donggala, with 13 subdistricts and a population of 670,000, is the largest regency in Central Sulawesi and, according to Syachbuddin, has managed to export its rice surplus to Maluku, North Sulawesi and East Kalimantan.
The provincial social service office said the twelve died not because of food shortages, but because the people could not afford to buy food, which was in abundance in the region.
The head of the office, Haerullah, said the villagers did not have money because their crop harvest had failed due to the drought.
He said several villages in the Buol Toli-Toli regency's subdistricts of Galang, Baolan and Toli-Toli Utara were facing the same plight.
Antara also reported Thursday that thousands of people in the villages faced the threat of starvation because of this year's long dry season.
Government officials in Toli-Toli regency were not available yesterday for comment on the latest situation in the region.
In Central Java, thousands of villagers in the regencies of Boyolali, Sragen, Blora and Grobogan are suffering from shortages of rice and have been forced to eat cooked cassava powder, Antara reported yesterday.
Villages reportedly hit by drought-induced rice shortages are Garangan, Bercak and Bengkle of Wonosegoro subdistrict and Munggur village in Andong subdistrict in Boyolali regency.
Other subdistricts in the regency affected by rice shortages include Klego, Kemusu and Juwangi. (aan)