Social agency proposes reallocation of iddle funds

JAKARTA (JP): The City Social Agency is proposing using the currently idle Rp 1.6 billion (US$188,235) fund in the city budget to improve social services.

"We'd like to use this fund to finance activities at the city- owned Kedoya rehabilitation center in West Jakarta," agency chairman Edy Widodo told City Council Commission E for public welfare during a hearing on Tuesday.

Upon the closure of the ministry of social affairs, its assets and funds had been transferred to the city administration. "The Jakarta office of the now defunct ministry of social affairs and its nine rehabilitation centers had earlier received financial assistance from the central government.

"The city administration had already allocated Rp 1.6 billion from the city budget for their activities. That's why the fund is idle," Edy said, citing that the fund could be used to support the administration's public order operations.

He said people arrested for violation of public order are initially sent to the Kedoya center before being transferred to other appropriate centers to receive help.

"With plans to intensify public order operations, the Kedoya rehabilitation center will have to accommodate more people and therefore it will need additional funds to ensure good service," he said.

The Kedoya center can accommodate 400 people, however official data shows that it has received some 1,486 vagrants since last month.

The data shows that 419 of them were sent back to their hometowns, 588 were sent to various other rehabilitation centers, 14 have been employed at the Ministry of Manpower, 128 were returned to their families in the capital, while three others needed medical treatment and were sent to hospital. The remaining 334 vagrants are being trained at the Kedoya center.

The center provides three meals a day, which costs the government Rp 5,000 per person per day. (lup)