Leader faked poverty info for funds: PDIP

Yemris Fointuna , The Jakarta Post , Kupang | Tue, 04/22/2008 10:40 AM | The Archipelago

East Nusa Tenggara legislative council members have accused the governor and his deputy of deceiving the public over poverty figures in their end-of-term accountability report, a local legislator said.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)'s Karel Yani Mbuik said Monday that Governor Piet A. Tallo and Vice Governor Frans Leburaya claimed in their report that only around 1.16 million people, or 27.58 percent of the province's total population of 4.8 million, were poor.

Mbuik said some 100,000 children were currently facing malnutrition and more than 3 million people were living below the poverty line and should still be provided with government subsidies and assistance.

"I believe the administration has lied to the public because the poverty rate has reached 70 percent, around three million people in the province," she said.

"They were (marking up the poverty rate) at a time when they were requesting funds from the central government, but in their accountability report they say that only 27.58 percent of people are poor."

Mbuik claimed the manipulation of the data was aimed at drawing public support and to claim unwarranted success in governing the province.

"Whereas, in fact, many people are still living below the poverty line," she said.

One of the reasons for chronic malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara is due to the poor allocation of funds for people's welfare, she said.

"The provincial budget amounts to around Rp 1.2 trillion (US$113 million) each year, of which only 30 percent is used for public spending, while the rest is used for routine expenditures. This policy has severely impacted on people's living standards," Mbuik said.

The budgetary policy, which has not changed since the administration of Tallo and Leburaya, has forced many children to drop out of school, and has pushed up the mortality rate of infants and mothers to the highest in the country, she said.

"The administration should have been honest in disclosing facts and should not have manipulated data," she said.

According to PDI-P faction chairman at the provincial legislative council, Jhon Umbu, and secretary Kornelis Soi, the administration has failed to manage the budget properly over the past five years.

"The funds are available but they were unable to use them effectively, and as a result have failed to address the pressing social issues," Umbu said.

Of its total annual budget of Rp 1.2 trillion, East Nusa Tenggara only receives Rp 200 billion from regional income.

"That indicates around 80 percent of the budget is still subsidized by the central government," Umbu said.

Chairman of the National Awakening faction Emilianus Pani said it was hard to believe the economic growth rate in the province had improved as many people continued to live in harsh conditions.

"People still depend on free rice rations to eat, while the administration reported that economic growth has gradually risen 5.50 percent from 2003," Emilianus said.

Provincial statistics agency BPS head Poltak Siahaan said data included in the accountability report was taken from BPS data in 2007.

According to him, the data was based on facts in the field and had not been manipulated or politicized.

"That's a fact. We work professionally and have not fulfilled orders from anyone," Siahaan said.

According to him, the chronic malnutrition problem cannot be used as an indicator in assessing poverty because it is related to people's dietary habits.

"The province is affluent in natural resources, but the scourge is attributed to people's lack of awareness of good eating patterns," Siahaan said.

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