Sutiyoso keeps donors' aid for flood victims: Deputy

Sutiyoso keeps donors' aid for flood victims: Deputy

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The reluctance on the part of many people to make donations
through formal channels like the city administration is
understandable given the sluggishness of these channels in
distributing the aid.

An official said on Friday the city administration had not
distributed some Rp 3.3 billion (US$347,000) collected late in
February from businesspeople during a charity event held in Ancol
to raise money for flood victims.

"The money is being kept by Governor Sutiyoso in some bank
account," said the deputy governor for people's welfare,
Djaelani.

He said the funds could not be distributed to the victims
because the administration was waiting for an additional Rp 700
million that was promised by donors during the charity night. Of
this amount, Rp 600 million was promised by Team Care, a charity
group organized by high-ranking officials in the city
administration.

"We are still waiting for the (promised) funds," said
Djaelani.

Djaelani said the money would be used to help the flood
victims, particularly in the area of education. However, he said
he was not sure of the details of how exactly the money would be
spent, adding that the city administration would discuss this at
a later time.

According to Djaelani, there is no rush to deliver the money
because the flood victims have received money for their education
needs from various non-governmental organizations, as well as
from the city administration through the social affairs agency.

"Actually, in the education sector most of the problems have
been solved as many organizations have distributed education aid,
and the city's social affairs agency has also distributed some
130,000 packages of school items," he said.

He also said the administration already had distributed some
Rp 2 billion in aid collected from individuals and organizations.

He said the money was used to purchase various goods needed by
flood victims, such as school uniforms, books, pencils, pens and
household items like kerosene lamps.

Meanwhile, Wicahyono, an official at SMU 8 high school, whose
school was inundated for weeks in January and February, said his
school was still badly in need of aid.

"We have not finished repainting the classroom walls. So if
funds are available, it would help us," said Wicahyono.

The massive floods that hit the capital in January and
February affected over 350,000 people. Hundreds of schools were
closed, either because they were inundated with water or were
used as temporary shelters for flood victims.