R

ecipients in Makassar, South Sulawesi, of cash aid given to poor families in compensation for the recent rise in fuel prices have bemoaned local officials'€™ failure to familiarize them with the disbursement mechanism.

Hundreds of people queued at a post office on Jl. Andi Pangerang Pettarani in Makassar on Thursday morning. They had to jostle each other just to get a queuing ticket; many failed even in that.

'€œI'€™ve been here since 8 a.m, but I still haven'€™t got a queueing ticket,'€ Syamsiah, from Rappocini district, said on Thursday afternoon.

She said she was trying to secure the cash because her husband, who was listed as eligible for aid, died last year.

'€œI asked for information from the subdistrict officials, but they said they didn'€™t know whether I could still get the aid. They just told me to bring my husband'€™s death statement letter,'€ she said.

Most of the recipients standing in line were not aware of the schedule of cash distribution that had been established to prevent long and uncomfortable queues. Most said they had heard about the disbursement from relatives, neighbors or friends, rather than local officials.

'€œI learned about the aid distribution only yesterday. A neighbor told me,'€ Ruslan Efendi from Maccini district said.

The head of the Makassar Post Office, Iskandar, blamed the hectic situation on the last-minute instruction to distribute the money.

He said his office had received the instruction on Monday evening, immediately after the government announced the increase in fuel prices.

'€œWe promptly coordinated that night and started distributing the cash aid on Tuesday in two subdistricts in Makassar,'€ he said, adding that his office would continue improving the mechanism to ensure smoother distribution.

The number of families in the two subdistricts eligible for the aid reached 43,952. Local post offices and district offices prepared six counters each to disburse the money.

As many as 478,240 families in 24 regencies and cities in South Sulawesi are expected to receive the cash aid, which totals Rp 191.2 billion.

To date, only Makassar, Maros, Parepare and Palopo have begun distribution of the aid.

Meanwhile, in Bandar Lampung, residents also started to receive the cash aid on Wednesday.

'€œWe ask recipients not come to the post office at the same time. We have until Dec. 12 to distribute the cash, which is plenty of time,'€ marketing manager of PT Pos Indonesia'€™s Pahoman branch Dadi Effendi said on Thursday.

Dadi also said that unlike with previous aid disbursements, this time only heads of recipient families would be allowed to collect the money.

In the future, he added, the cash aid would no longer be distributed through the post office, but through Bank Mandiri.