Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Israeli Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) issued a regulation allowing the ministry to accept donations for the war from the public.
These new regulatory guidelines allow private individuals and philanthropic foundations to provide funds directly to the government, not to NGOs.
The document was written to regulate the donation process according to “good administration and integrity rules.”
Reporting from Haaretz Friday (10/11/2023), the document was issued last month and is based on proposals drafted by the Israeli Ministry of Finance in recent years but not yet adopted.
“The impetus for issuing this directive was the huge wave of requests that started at the beginning of the struggle from people who wanted to donate to the government and not to NGOs because they believed that the government was the one who knew the right priorities best and also operated with transparency,” said sources in Ministry.
The guidelines will be valid until the end of the year although the Israeli Ministry of Finance said “the government is allowed to extend their validity period”.
The document also determines the maximum donation amount, namely 360,000 shekels or around Rp. 1.4 billion for business organizations and 500,000 shekels (Rp. 2 billion) for non-profit organizations.
However, the Ministry of Finance has included a loophole that allows approval of larger donations as well.
On the other hand, criticism has also emerged, saying it will open the door to inappropriate outside influences and take advantage of people’s goodwill.
“Because of the war, there is an opportunity to exert inappropriate influence on civil servants here,” said a source at one of the ministries.
“It is unacceptable for a country to have a budget [pemerintah] the large ones ask for donations for activities that they can and should fund. “The problem is not money, it is the government’s priorities,” said another source.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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