UPC says jobs, not guns can reduce conflict

Bernie K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the government plans to invest Rp 1 trillion (about US$111 million) to patch up the country's poor security, it would be better spent on fighting unemployment rather than on the Indonesian Military (TNI), an activist said.

Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), an advocacy institution for poor Jakarta residents, said the country's high level of unemployment contributed to the worsening crime rate and other violent conflicts.

Slashing the number of jobless people was a better investment in improving domestic security, she said.

"Don't use the money to buy guns," she said on Monday, while commenting on TNI's request for Rp 600 billion extra to cope with a deterioration in domestic security.

The TNI, along with the National Police, asked for an additional budget of Rp 1 trillion, which, if approved by legislators, would have to come from state reserve funds of Rp 5 trillion.

Four years after the fall of president Soeharto, rampant crime, armed conflict and separatism present a constant headache to the nation as it struggles to recover from the 1997 economic crisis.

Over the past six months, more than 400 people have died in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam where fighting rages on between government forces and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Elsewhere, peace remains elusive in Maluku despite the Malino peace accord last February between warring Muslim and Christian groups.

Across the country, resource-rich provinces are also home to looting, illegal logging and mining activities.

The TNI and police are indeed underfinanced. TNI officials acknowledge that only 25 percent of its operations are funded from the state budget. Its main financial resources are often obscure TNI-run businesses.

Wardah, however, said that one overlooked issue behind the widespread security problems was the large number of unemployed people.

More than 40 million Indonesians languish in unemployment, official data shows. "People with nothing to do are more easily tempted to engage in crime or otherwise be provoked into committing violent acts," Wardah said.

Attempts at job creation through development spending in the state budget have been inadequate. Almost 40 percent of the state budget has been allocated to repaying both domestic and foreign debts.

Wardah said tapping the reserve funds could help create employment while, in the longer term, preventing fresh violence or crime.

"We could do it by subsidizing the poor, or investing in projects that absorb jobs," she said.

So far, the government and the legislature appeared to be in favor of granting the TNI and National Police the additional budget.

Several legislators said as both the police and the TNI were underfinanced, they deserved the extra Rp 1 trillion.

However, one of the founders of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS), Munir, said that of the two institutions only the police deserved the money to improve their handling of domestic security.

He said the TNI lacked accountability as 75 percent of its operations received funding from obscure financial sources.

"How can we be sure that the money we give them is used properly if the TNI has never been fully accountable in its past budgets?" Munir asked.

Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) agreed.

He added that the police were more deserving of the funds because it was their job to handle domestic security.