Bandarlampung
Poverty must not destroy our determination to help the poor. That's the ideology of Islamic welfare organizer Juperta Panji Utama.
According to Islamic teachings, those who can afford to do so should pay a tithe from their salary. However this obligation doesn't hold for those with a monthly income of less than Rp 1.2 million (US$130) -- and that includes Panji himself, who receives only Rp 1 million per month.
For the past six years the father of three, who is also a well-known journalist and poet, has been occupying his time as an amil, a mosque official who collects tithes.
Slowly but surely, Panji, the director of regional tithe organization Lampung Care, has raised money for the needy -- starting with tens of thousands of rupiah and eventually raising millions.
The funds are collected from concerned citizens prepared to meet their religious obligations, who pay their tithes to Panji and his colleagues for distribution to the poor.
Being a social worker is a life choice for the agriculture faculty graduate from Lampung University. "I didn't want to continue working as a regional journalist because the temptations are too great," he said.
As a journalist, Panji says his salary was rather small, but the opportunity to obtain bribes was big. He didn't want to support his wife and children using money received illegally.
"I felt it was better to just stop being a journalist altogether."
Panji was born in Tanjungkarang on Aug. 25, 1970. His poetry has been featured in several anthologies.
He first became a mosque official working as a volunteer with Duafa Wallet, an organization formed by the Republika daily newspaper.
"In 1999 I worked at Duafa Wallet in Jakarta with a salary of more than Rp 3 million per month," he said. "However, I later returned to Lampung because I believed there were many more poor people in that province who needed help."
Back in Lampung on April 17, 2000, Panji set up Lampung Care together with religious heads and community leaders. In the beginning, Lampung Care worked on tasks determined by Duafa Wallet. This meant using volunteers to distribute money that had been collected by Duafa Wallet to the poor.
However, in 2003 Lampung Care split from Duafa Wallet. Since then, Lampung Care has had to find, collect and distribute funds on its own.
"The amount of money we were able to gather in the beginning was relatively small," Panji said. "On average the monthly tithes collected only reached around Rp 3 million, while alms and other religious dues averaged Rp 10 million a month.
"These funds were distributed to poor people -- especially in the form of university scholarships for bright students from needy families who had the potential to achieve."
In 2006, Lampung Care collected a total of Rp 200 million in alms and dues, and tithes to the value of Rp 153 million.
"Our salary comes from the tithes gathered every month," said Panji. "The amount allocated to salaries is one-eighth of the money collected. That's then distributed among the six mosque officials who collect the tithes."
According to Panji, because Lampung is the second poorest province in Sumatra after Nangroe Aceh Dasurssalam, many aid programs have been established by the government to help families and students in need.
Programs involving direct cash aid assistance have been introduced to compensate for an increase in fuel prices, as have scholarships for high achieving students and support for schools.
The total funds allocated to these programs from governments at the national, regional, regency and city levels can reach trillions of rupiahs every year.
"When we compare the amount of government aid allocated to poverty reduction programs compared to the amount of aid raised through our efforts, it might seem as though our funds have little impact," Panji said. "So we have to be selective and look for pockets of poor people who are scattered across the province and often overlooked.
"We help the poor who get missed by other aid programs. We try to spread our ideas about caring for the forgotten and isolated poor to other provinces."
Panji said even though there were many aid programs designed to help poor families, the rate of poverty in Lampung was still high. Almost half of Lampung's six million citizens are officially classified as poor.
"There are so many students who drop out of school, but praise be to God we can help many to continue their education and achieve good results."
In order to provide a professional service to donors and recipients Panji works hard. His mobile phone is active 24-hours a day to accept aid information, or offer advice on the best way to pay alms and tithes.
He makes good use of modern technology. "I can receive funds by using the short message service (SMS) on my mobile phone."
"I can also hand over the millions we receive through an SMS system. We gave Rp 10 million to an institution that was ready to distribute donations to tsunami victims in Aceh, also through using SMS."
According to Panji, Indonesian people have a high sense of social responsibility. "The problem is how to ensure the funds collected from the community and the money that is distributed are handled properly.
"That's why we try to maintain the principles of accountability and transparency. We publish our financial reports every month in a local newspaper. We do this so the community knows we aren't corrupt and can see we distribute the aid properly."
Panji believes if all Indonesian Moslems paid their tithes and other dues correctly, and if these funds were distributed fairly, there would be no poor people in the country.
"The problem is many people are not fully aware of their religious and civil obligations. They think if they've given alms and paid their taxes they've already fulfilled their responsibilities."
According to religious teachings, when a Moslem earns Rp 1.3 million or more a month he has to pay a tithe of 2.5 per cent. "The amount is small, but still useful for those living in poverty."
Panji said he is happy when donations change poor people's lives. "I even cried when a donation was made to an unemployed husband who had a debt to a money lender," he said.
"When I see so many poor people who require assistance, I feel my hand isn't big enough to meet so many needs."
Panji believes instability in society and criminal acts are the main causes of poverty in Indonesia.
"Poverty is widespread in a third of the world's nations," he said. "But in Indonesia, the poverty rate should be lower because most citizens are Moslems. Ironically, many Moslems don't pay their tithes."
The Jakarta Post, July 2 2007
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