Team set up for safety net scheme

JAKARTA (JP): The government appointed a private organization led by former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad to distribute aid to millions of needy Indonesians under its social safety net program yesterday.

Mar'ie, known during his days in the cabinet as "Mr. Clean", promised the work of the Indonesian Committee for Humanitarian Programs (KKI) would be transparent and clean. The organization will handle donations to alleviate poverty in the country.

All donations would be audited by the international accounting firm Prasetio Utomo-Arthur Andersen, Mar'ie said after signing the agreement between his organization and the government.

State Minister of Population Ida Bagus Oka represented the government at the signing ceremony.

"KKI will supervise the distribution of donations," confirmed Haryono Suyono, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare/Poverty Eradication, who also attended the signing ceremony.

The government's ability to ensure that donations reach the intended recipients has been undermined by growing reports of rampant corruption in the bureaucracy.

Mar'ie said his organization has received the support of the World Bank, albeit indirectly.

He pointed out that Bondan Winarno, who is the organization's secretary, is a World Bank consultant. The bank last month led a consortium to raise $7.9 billion in new soft loans to Indonesia.

The committee is made up of high profile public figures including former health minister Sujudi, former ambassador to the United Kingdom J.E. Habibie, physician Pratiwi Sudharmono, social worker Rihna Azrul Azwar and businessmen Bambang N. Rachmadi, Chairul Tanjung and Hoesein Soeropranoto.

It is a non-profit organization and will work to alert international society about the urgent need for food and medicines in the country, Mar'ie said.

In a statement, KKI said its medium term goals were to preserve basic social services and in the longer term it would endeavor to provide economic opportunities and build the capacity for self-sufficiency.

The current economic crisis has sent the number of Indonesians living below the poverty line from 11 percent of the total population of 202 million to more than 40 percent, the Central Bureau of Statistics revealed last month. The bureau predicts that 48 percent of the population, or 95.8 million people, will be living below the poverty line by the end of this year.

With inflation running at 60 percent and the price of food and medicine soaring, many people have found themselves impoverished.

About six million children failed to re-register for school in July because their parents could not afford the tuition fees.

The government has introduced various social-safety net schemes to cushion the poor from the impact of the economic crisis. They include providing food and medicines at heavily subsidized prices and providing school grants to poor families.

Mar'ie said KKI would collect donations from all sectors of the economy, including the private sector, and distribute the money to poor families.

The committee will enlist the help of mosques, churches and temples to distribute food, and community health centers to distribute medicines, he said. (01)