Students to help supervise funds for poor: Kalla
Students to help supervise funds for poor: Kalla
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is requesting universities to directly supervise
the channeling of assistance funds for low-income people derived
from the fuel subsidy cut, amid concerns about misuse by
officials at the central and regional level.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla told The Jakarta Post recently that
in order to make sure the money goes to the needy, the government
would sign a memorandum of understanding with 35 universities
nationwide to supervise the fund distribution.
"Monitoring is an important issue. Physically, the funds will
be monitored by the universities. They will deploy thousands of
students for that purpose.
"As for financial accountability, it will be handled by the
Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP)," said Kalla at his
office.
The universities are part of a special team tasked by the
government to monitor the disbursement of the funds. The effort
includes planning, coordination, monitoring, evaluation,
supervision, auditing and the securing of the funds.
The government has announced an average 29 percent increase in
fuel prices, arguing that the move was for the benefit of the
nation as it would lead to greater funding allocation for welfare
programs, encourage more efficient fuel usage and prevent fuel
smuggling.
The government has promised to allocate Rp 17.8 trillion
(US$1.95 billion) from the fuel subsidy cut to finance a number
of programs targeted directly at the poor, with most of funds
going to scholarships, the purchase of subsidized rice for the
poor, rural infrastructure projects and health care.
However, based on past experience, the funds for low-income
families are prone to misuse, particularly by local
administrations.
While pledging that the funds would not be misappropriated,
Kalla warned of possible complaints from the poor over some
administrative difficulties during the disbursement.
Kalla also said that not all economically disadvantaged people
would receive assistance. Only those whose income is no more than
$1 a day including farmers or laborers, would receive the fund.
In education for instance, "the number of poor students are
about 30 million, but we can only afford to give scholarships to
about 12 million students," said Kalla.
However, he asserted that the fund would be enough to cover
health services and facilities for all the poor.
The disbursement of the financial assistance will be conducted
by local administrations, at the subdistrict, district and
village level.