Stiffing the Acehnese

Stiffing the Acehnese

Acehnese are known for their pride and their historical struggle
for independence. And yet, this pride seems to have been drowned
out in the wake of last week's tsunami disaster. We are
especially saddened to learn that the once-proud Acehnese are now
mired in tears of despair and helplessness.

It is now our responsibility to help the Acehnese, not only to
survive the crisis following the disaster, but most importantly
to enable them to restore their dignity.

We are encouraged by the massive international response to
help the tsunami victims in the region, particularly our brothers
and sisters at ground zero -- Aceh. The international community
has raised more than US$2 billion to help reduce the suffering of
tsunami victims in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. We are
also encouraged by the domestic response, especially from the
people who have spared whatever they have to help Aceh.

On the other hand, we are disturbed by our government's
response to the calamity. Lack of coordination among government
agencies is often cited as the main problem crippling the aid
distribution in Aceh. The government is indeed the easiest target
of blame when there is bottleneck in aid delivery. But our
concern goes beyond that. We especially question our government's
commitment to rebuilding Aceh and restoring the dignity of the
Acehnese.

The government has predicted that it will cost around Rp 10
trillion (US$1.1 brillion) to physically rehabilitate Aceh. This
figure is indeed a conservative estimate. Other estimates have
put it at more than $2 billion. The problem, however, is not so
much with the government's estimate -- we do not question that --
but we do question the government's decision to spread the Rp 10
trillion over a five-year period.

This government has been especially stingy in its planned
budget spending for Aceh. It has allocated only Rp 1.35 trillion
as an emergency fund this year for Aceh -- which we consider an
insult to the Acehnese, especially in comparison to our military
spending on the Aceh conflict, which has totaled more than Rp 2
trillion in the last 18 months alone, or our fuel subsidies of Rp
57.3 trillion (in the first 11 months of 2004).

We urge the government to commit more than just Rp 1.35
trillion. We believe the House of Representatives will be
cooperative and approve any amount proposed by the government to
rebuild Aceh. If necessary, all Rp 10 trillion should be allotted
and spent during this fiscal year. We do not believe the
government will be short of funding, even if it allotted more
than that.

First of all, there has been a proposal from Germany, which
was welcomed by a number of other donors, to offer a debt
moratorium or rescheduling for Indonesia to give the country more
breathing space to help the Acehnese. However, the government has
been seemingly reluctant to pursue this offer. If it
materializes, it will provide ample cash for the government to
finance Aceh's reconstruction. As an illustration, for this
year's budget, the government has allocated Rp 25 trillion just
to pay the interest on its foreign debt. If the government
manages to reschedule the interest, the principal or both for
this year alone, it would have enough funding -- actually much
more than enough -- to physically rebuild Aceh.

But, we need to be prepared for the worst, for instance, if
the government chooses not to pursue the debt rescheduling
facility for whatever reason. This still would not necessarily
preclude the allotment of adequate funding for Aceh. There are
lots of sources of alternative funding, starting with a reduction
of the planned fuel subsidy. The government and the House have
agreed to allocate Rp 19 trillion for the fuel subsidy this year.
Although this amount of subsidy represents a deep cut from last
year's Rp 57.5 trillion, this is still a very large budget outlay
-- 14 times larger than the Rp 1.35 trillion allocated for Aceh.
Most importantly, as we already discussed in this column earlier,
the extension of the fuel subsidy mostly benefits wealthy owners
of gas-guzzling SUVs.

Again, we implore the government and the House to further cut
-- or if necessary eliminate altogether -- the fuel subsidy and
use the money for Aceh. Similarly, we also appeal to all citizens
and residents of the nation, especially motorists who have been
enjoying artificially low fuel prices, to sacrifice and be
willing to pay more for at the pump for the sake of our sisters
and brothers in Aceh.