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.