Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) is having to abandon most of its programs due to steep budget cuts.

"We cannot even provide basic services due to the lack of funds," commissioner Sri Nurherwati said as quoted by tempo.co.

The commission had its budget reduced by 85 percent this year, receiving only Rp 600 million (US$63,410) from an expected Rp 3.9 billion. The reduction was caused primarily by the government's increasing burden of providing fuel subsidies.

Sri said that 40 percent of the commission's funding came from the state budget, with the remainder provided by donations. Now, however, the institution had to rely entirely on donations, she added. "Ideally, we should receive all our funding from the state," Sri said.

Besides Komnas Perempuan, two other state commissions have also had their funding reduced by the government.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) are both facing 30 percent budget cuts this year. (fzm/iwa)