House Members Grill Fisheries Minister Over Missed Targets and Failed Schemes

The Jakarta Globe, Arti Ekawati, February 12, 2009 

Legislators on Wednesday blasted the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries for its poor performance in 2008, as reflected by the sorry state of fisheries in remote areas. 

At a hearing with Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, members of the House of Representatives’ Commission IV cited numerous specific failures they had witnessed during the past year, including the ministry’s inability to stop illegal fishing, its low level of budget absorption, and its failure to meet non-tax government revenue collection targets. 

“We urge the ministry to improve its performance this year,” Arifin Junaidi, chairman of the commission, told the hearing. 

Suswono, the commission’s vice chairman, said the ministry had failed to meet its own goals in solving numerous maritime and fisheries problems. 

“It’s kind of disappointing to review the results of their work since so many programs have not been completed and the economic welfare of fishermen is still a cause for concern,” Suswono said in an interview following the hearing. 

The ministry, Suswono said, had failed to improve the welfare of small-scale fishermen, partly because it did not even know exactly how many fishermen were in need of assistance or how many had received ministry aid.

 

It also dispatched only 5,400 counselors to encourage the nation’s villagers to make the transition from traditional fishing to aquaculture, rather than the 12,000 it estimated were needed.

 

Another member of the commission, Rusman Ali, questioned the ministry’s decision to spend only 76.6 percent of the money it was allocated in the 2008 budget, while others criticized the ministry for falling short of its target for non-tax revenue collection, bringing in only Rp 104 billion of its Rp 215.7 billion goal.

 

“The ministry did use all of its effort to increase non-tax income,” former Minister of Labor Bomer Pasaribu said.

 

Sujud Siradjudin also said that the ministry should have done more to counter recent territorial claims by the Philippines to Miangas Island in North Sulawesi Province.

 

In response, Numberi said the ministry had done its best in 2008, but admitted that it would have to learn from its mistakes.

 

“Many things must be improved in the future,” he said.