Village empowerment fund seen as time bomb for Papua

Nethy Darma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua | Sat, 11/14/2009 5:35 PM

Financial assistance worth Rp 100 million extended to each village in Papua will leave a time bomb that may explode in the coming few years, a conference hears.

Bintang Mountain representative to the international conference, Spey Bidana, said Papuan villages had heavily relied on the annual government aid and been reluctant to seek alternative sources of revenue.

“I am worried about the prospect of the program as it has created people’s dependency on the government,” Bidana said, referring to the annual village empowerment fund extended to remote villages to accelerate development there.

Bidana said the village people lacked experience to manage the fund. “They should have undergone training before the money was extended. People may think they can get huge money without breaking any sweat,” he said.

Another speaker, Josias Serontouw who represented customary communities, said the village empowerment fund had raised a question about fairness. He said a village inhabited by dozens of people received the same amount as an overpopulated village, which he said was unfair.

Agus Sumule, an advisor to the governor, said the provincial government had improved implementation of the scheme, including allocation of fund based on the size of population.