Safety net fund of Rp 300m abused

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration revealed on Friday that more than Rp 300 million of social safety net funds aimed at helping Jakartans cope with the economic crisis had been misused.

The funds were misused by two executives of Village Resilience Boards (LKMDs) and two subdistrict chiefs in Central and East Jakarta.

None of the four, however, were detained for further investigation.

"They are in the process of returning the money back to the local LKMDs and have used their land as collateral," head of the City's Development Planning Board Bambang Sungkono told a media conference on the evaluation of the Rp 109.52 billion emergency fund, the PDMDKE project, at City Hall.

When asked about penalties for the suspects, Bambang said "they would be socially ostracized by the locals".

He referred to the local culture when neighbors often refuse to talk with residents known for committing a crime.

Bambang said the social safety net scheme was designed by and for the local people.

"So let the suspects be punished by society," he said.

The emergency fund program, funded by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), was channeled through 265 village boards in the capital which then distributed them to people living below the poverty line and those who lost their jobs during the crisis.

Since the beginning, critics -- including nongovernmental organizations and city councilors -- warned the program was prone to fund misuse because there were no clear controls to ensure the disbursement of the aid reached needy Jakartans.

The fund was to be used to lend money to small-scale businesspeople and finance small development projects placing the needy in jobs.

Many executives of the resilience boards reportedly used the money for their own interest and supported businesses of their relatives and family.

Bambang said the discovery of the misuse was based on a total of 68 media reports and public complaints.

East Jakarta Mayor Andi Mappaganty, who also attended the meeting, said two cases of fund misuse in his mayoralty involved chairman of Pulo Gebang's LKMD, P. Sulistyo, who misused Rp 122 million of the fund, and former Kampung Tengah subdistrict chief, Sanang who misused Rp 160 million.

"Both of them have been questioned," he said.

Sulistyo and Sanang, he said, were confirmed to have given the funds to cronies.

Mappaganty said the two were now in the process of returning the money and pledged their land as a guarantee.

"Sulistyo submitted his 125-square-meters of land and Sanang, 500-square-meters of land as a guarantee," he said.

In Central Jakarta, the misuse of Rp 32.6 million was committed by the Karang Anyar subdistrict chief and LKMD chairman.

"The two people were dismissed from their positions and they are obliged to return the money," Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said.

The administration's allegations of fund misuse were a far cry from the figures released earlier by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), which said about 70 percent of the total fund already disbursed was believed to have been misused by LKMD officials.

From the emergency fund's total, Rp 106.7 billion was disbursed directly to the boards while another Rp 1.3 billion went to operation costs and another Rp 1.4 billion to management costs.

In a related development, Bambang said Bappenas would continue with the second phase of the project in the city which would amount to Rp 224 billion and would hopefully start in August.

"But so far there has not been any direction from Bappenas," he said.(ind)