Social Assistance Funds and Grants Recommended by the Council

The East Java Provincial Government Development Administration Bureau (Pemprov) guarantees the disbursement of grants and social assistance (bansos) for the community in accordance with existing regulations. Any allegations of irregularities were dismissed. The denial was in response to the suspicions of the Nusantara Community NGO, which suspected that a number of East Java DPRD members were involved in the recommendation process for the disbursement of grants and social assistance funds from the Development Administration Bureau in the amount of Rp 40 million to above Rp 10 billion. The NGO also released the names of 11 board members who recommended proposals but received billions of rupiah in disbursement. "That is not true. All must have a proposal. If there is no proposal, it is impossible for us to disburse it," said Head of the Development Administration Bureau, Dachlan. Dachlan said that the fund was a fund for gathering community aspirations (Jasmas). Some of the submissions from community groups (pokmas) are through members of the council and some are submitted to the East Java Provincial Government themselves. "If the members of the council are obliged to submit proposals for the aspirations of the people, it is mandatory," he said. He explained that not all proposals received by the provincial government could be disbursed. In fact, he said, the current disbursement of social security funds is more stringent and different from P2SEM, which previously had problems due to irregularities. “Now it is more stringent, in contrast to P2SEM. In the case of P2SEm, the members of the council will hold the funds. Now that we have received the proposal, the council members have nothing to do with it, because they only recommend. The money from the provincial government goes directly to the Pokmas account," he said. According to him, prior to disbursement, the provincial government will verify every incoming proposal. Then it is checked in the field and the proposal must also be known to the village head or lurah. "If it is not appropriate or fictitious, especially if there is no proposal, we will not disburse it," he said. "For example, the proposal is for development, we verify how much the need is, we make an agreement with him, there are facts about his integrity, then we will process the disbursement. And the disbursement process is not direct,” said Dachlan. "For example, Rp. 200 million, Rp. 200 million is not paid immediately, but gradually. First 40 percent, there are reports and activities are checked in the field, we will disburse another 30 percent. There are reports and activities again, we will disburse the rest and that is according to the regulations," he explained. In 2011, the Development Administration Bureau has allocated about Rp 200 billion of social services funds. Until this July, a total of 1,171 proposals proposed by members of the East Java DPRD and other community groups (pokmas) were submitted to the Development Administration Bureau. "The aid is not just at my place, it's in other bureaus. In my place, there were 1,171 proposals. Of that amount, about 56 percent were processed, and the aid fund was more than Rp 100 billion," he said. “The majority (proposals) are for development, the environment. The biggest aid is around Rp 200 million," he said. According to him, proposals that apply for large funds are usually large foundations. Even though the foundation is large, the mechanism for applying for aid disbursement is according to procedures. It will even be audited by involving other parties. "The following year we will directly audit. Like I am from the Development Administration Bureau, I can't audit it directly, so I ask for help from the inspectorate to audit it," he explained.