N

GO activists in West Sumatra have urged the provincial administration to disburse over US$5 million in scholarship funds for students from low-income families that it has kept in its bank account for almost nine years.

The funds came from a community development grant from PT Rajawali Corpora when it bought a 24.9 percent share of Cemex SAB de CV at PT Semen Gresik Tbk (the holding company of PT Semen Padang) in 2006. It was received through the provincial budget gradually over five years in sums of $1 million per year until 2010.

'€œWe ask for the funds to be distributed to the eligible recipients soon. Otherwise, we will file a public lawsuit,'€ Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH) director Era Purnama Sari told The Jakarta Post, Saturday.

Era said that the provincial administration'€™s inability to distribute the funds for political reasons had disadvantaged students from low-income families in the region in accessing further education.

For this, Era said, the Padang LBH had established a registration post for anyone in the province who had encountered difficulties with education expenses since 2006 but failed to get aid from the administration.

She said that since an earthquake devastated the region in 2009, many students and university students from low-income families were unable to continue their studies, while the provincial administration in fact kept a third party'€™s funds for scholarship purposes.

'€œThey have the right to file a lawsuit for receiving such treatment,'€ Era said.

West Sumatra Anti Corruption Integrity Institution chairman Arif Paderi demanded the provincial legislative council revoke Bylaw No. 4/2009 on the establishment of the Minangkabau Scholarship Foundation.

He also urged the provincial administration to establish an institution to distribute the scholarships by involving a number of parties in the funds'€™ management and NGOs in monitoring.

The halt in the distribution of the funds, according to Arif, was due to mutual suspicion between the provincial administration and legislative council that the funds would be spent for particular individual, party or group interests.

The polemic, he said, would continue especially ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial election slated for December this year.

'€œThat'€™s why the planning and distribution system of the funds should be started this year for the 2016 provincial budget,'€ Arif said.

Researcher Charles Simabura of Andalas University'€™s center for constitutional studies said that the establishment of the Minangkabau Scholarship Foundation by the provincial administration was a violation against the regulation.

A bylaw, he said, regulated public matters and not private ones like the establishment of a business entity or a foundation.

Provincial administration secretary Ali Asmar said the funds were still in the provincial treasury and amounted to about Rp 63 billion.

He said the administration did not have the guts to disburse the funds because based on a consultation with the Finance Ministry, the funds could not be channeled through a foundation but to a working unit under a government agency by applying a regional public service agency'€™s financial management pattern (PPK-BLUD).

'€œWe have proposed that the legislative council further deliberate the matter. In principle, we want eligible students to be able to enjoy the funds soon,'€ Ali said.