Rp 560b fund suggested for poor people
Rp 560b fund suggested for poor people
Rp 560b find recommended for the poor
Ahmad Junaidi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
In the wake of criticism for receiving a financial windfall
from the city budget, city council members suggested on Friday
that Jakarta's emergency fund of Rp 560 billion (US$56 million)
be used to help disadvantaged people.
"Since we are still facing problems related to poor people,
(the city) can use the emergency fund to help them," Council
Chairman Edy Waluyo told reporters at a year-end press
conference.
Governor Sutiyoso, however, seemed reluctant to agree with the
proposal, saying that the city administration had already
allocated a fund for poor people out of next year's budget.
"But if the council suggested to use the fund, we could use
half of it," Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall.
The 560 billion emergency fund, mostly taken from city budget
surpluses, was originally allocated for natural disasters, such
as flooding. For the past three years, the city has accumulated a
surplus of Rp 400 billion.
This year's proposed budget allocates Rp 176 billion for
building low cost houses and apartments, and Rp 94 billion for
social welfare needs.
Edy of the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction said that
the fund could, for example, be used to build low-cost apartments
for the poor, including those forcibly evicted from their
makeshift houses in riverbanks recently.
Thousands of people have been evicted and hundreds of houses
located in riverbanks were demolished this year by city public
order officers.
Non-governmental organizations, including the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), strongly criticized the
evictions, which they said were conducted without giving enough
compensation to the victims.
Komnas HAM said the compensation should be given to the
victims, since the administration had allowed them to live along
the riverbanks for years.
The administration once planned to build low-cost apartments,
but could only provide for the land, and asked the central
government to finance the construction of the apartment.
The council's suggestion seemed an effort to win people's
hearts after being sharply criticized on the amount of funds
allocated for its 85 councillors in next year's budget.
More than Rp 100 billion would be set aside for the council --
including allowances for trips, health, meetings and official
wardrobes.
This year, the council has received 55 complaints, which were
mostly related to the needs of poor people.