UNDP reneges on commitment

In mid January 2001, I was promised a part-time job at United Nations Development Program's Breakthrough Urban Initiatives for Local Development (BUILD) to start on March 1, 2001 by the program's chief technical adviser, Mr. Paul M. Sutmuller. Upon this job offer, I resigned from my respectable position at the British Council as per Feb. 28, 2001.

But UNDP has reneged on its commitment. On April 10, 2001, I received final confirmation from Mr. Paul M. Sutmuller that UNDP was unwilling to have a contract that would start on March 1, 2001, and offered instead one that would start on March 15, 2001.

I rejected this offer on the principle that I should not be the one to suffer unnecessary loss because of UNDP's internal mistake that made it incapable of processing the contract on time as promised; that UNDP should be obliged to honor a commitment made by its respectable chief technical adviser; and that a UN organization should not arbitrarily mistreat a citizen of a member-state. I have lost my position at the British Council and have been unemployed until now. No compensation has been received.

I am releasing this story to let it be known widely so that nobody else should suffer the deep disappointment that a big organization such as UNDP, which runs a global business, reneges on a commitment and refuses to take responsibility for its own internal flaw, causing material loss, lost time and mental anguish to a powerless, average citizen.

I took the risk of resigning from the British Council because I trusted the UNDP would honor its commitment, and because I had the goodwill to support the program that I was led to believe required immediate mobilization to start on March 1, 2001, which was an explicit request by Mr. Paul M. Sutmuller himself.

He then said that UNDP was not willing to fund a contract that would start on March 1, 2001 because I had not started working on that date. This argument is a twisting of the facts: I was ready and wanted to start on March 1, 2001 as proven by my resignation from the British Council prior to that date. It was the UNDP which was not ready. I also joined its quarterly evaluation and planning meeting on March 28, 2001 to March 31, 2001 and contributed some constructive and strategic ideas.

After admitting its own internal communication flaw, the second excuse given was that jealousy would emerge among other experts in the program if my demand was granted. This excuse is irrelevant and pure concoction, as obviously all those experts are highly educated and rational. I am sure they would well understand my rights. This case would in fact be a good precedent for them to protect their own rights.

MARCO KUSUMAWIJAYA

Jakarta