BRR Nias Has Lost Nias People’s Support
International institutions may laud the BRR Aceh-Nias performance (read this news), but in Nias, BRR has started losing people’s support, according to SIB newspaper report (16/08/06). The way BRR handles various projects where many were not finalised according to the ones set on paper has disappointed Nias people. This was pointed out by Fotarisman Zalukhu, the General secretary of Care Nias Society (CNS) in a discussion held recently Medan.
Zalukhu said BRR now is being viewed as being elitist and does not seem to “absorb†the local people’s aspiration. This has created a bad image of BRR among Nias people who view BRR as an institution who took advantage of Nias recent disasters to waste money channeled to Nias.
Beside losing psychological support of Nias people, BRR has also lost a momentum for its Reconstruction and Rehabilitation programme. Post disaster construction process should have been used by BRR to boost Nias people enthusiasm in rebulding their region. What has happened so far has been a merely physical reconstruction at a very slow pace.
Progress report released by BRR to public is far from a report on long term empowerment of Nias people. Instead of waiting fund from BRR, many Nias people are now trying to rebuild their own life using their own limited recources.
According to Zalukhu, if not improved and corrected continusoly, the current BRR program in Nias will become a time bomb to Nias people. When BRR finishes its term in Nias, the people will be left and dealt with with the impacts of the unfinished BRR programme.