UPC says jobs, not guns can reduce conflict

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.