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n the heels of House Speaker Marzuki Alie’s recent comments on the presence of a United Nations body at the House of Representatives, several NGOs urged the government to evaluate foreign donor programs in Indonesia.

Marzuki expressed shock on Friday at the 11-year presence of a UN Development Programme (UNDP) office at the House. Though Marzuki’s concerns centered on security issues, others focused on issues of efficiency.

“The government needs to assess foreign donor programs’ impact and development to decide if they are still effective and needed here,” Indonesian Civilized Circle director (LIMA) Ray Rangkuti said on Monday.

He said he had not seen progress from several bodies receiving funds and assistance from foreign donors.

Ray mentioned the UNDP efforts in empowering Indonesia’s legislature as an example. “The UNDP has been helping the House of Representatives since 2005, but we cannot see any improvement [in the legislators performance]. As a matter of fact, they are getting weaker,” Ray said at the General Elections Commission’s media center.

In the general election in 2009, the UNDP announced the NGOs receipt of funds for implementing voter education programs only a month before the election took place, rendering the program useless, the NGOs said.

The NGOs said the problem with foreign donors did not stop there.

“The International Foundation for Electoral Systems [IFES] had yet to submit a report on the tragedy in 2009 when the IFES’ vote-counting system was jammed during the general election while they were assisting the General Elections Commission [KPU],” he said.

Ray said the government often gave “special treatment” to foreign donors by letting them occupy rooms in government offices.

The UNDP has been at the House since 2000, where it occupies one room on the seventh floor of the House Secretariat building and one room on the third floor of the Council building.

The agency also has offices at the Home Ministry, the KPU and local government offices. In the general election in 2009, many foreign donors had offices in the KPU building.

Several foreign institutions managing social funds for Indonesia also have offices in the National Development Planning Agency’s building.

“It seems like the government owes foreign donors something or feels obliged to give them such facilities because the government earns funds from them, while [the government] actually has its own budget for that,” he said.

Also speaking at the press conference, poll watchdog Jeirry Sumampow said that foreign donors had affected the government in implementing their own programs.

“Foreign programs were actually similar to the Indonesian government’s programs, so there was an overlap in budget and program implementation. Most of the time, the central government prioritized foreign donors’ programs because they already earned the money and then pushed local administrations to do so,” Jeirry said.

For those reasons, Ray suggested that the government propose a new law governing the mechanism of cooperation with foreign donors.

“We have to determine our national interests so foreign donors will have to adjust to our interests and values when they create programs for Indonesia,” Ray said.

The NGOs said they supported foreign donors, as many NGOs depend on such donors. They said, however, it was better if the foreign funds were channeled to the people than to the government.

“We still need their skill and experience in so many cases, such as emergency responses. We also connect to the global world through them. We only suggest the government treat them proportionally and protect our national interests,” he said. (swd)