Council irked by poor reports on education fund use<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The City Council blasted on Friday poor financial reports on the
\nuse of the 2004 city budget for education, saying the reports
\ngave the impression that city officials were unprofessional and
\nnot serious in handling taxpayers' money.<\/p>\n
\"We have examined 14 offices out of 30 offices with the City
\nElementary Education Agency and we discovered problems in most
\nfinancial reports made by those offices,\" the chairman of the
\ncouncil's Commission E for education and people's welfare, Dani
\nAnwar, announced after a hearing with North Jakarta elementary
\neducation office on Friday.<\/p>\n
Dani, who appeared to be infuriated by the state of the
\nreports, said his commission, for instance, found that the North
\nJakarta elementary education office had failed to explain its
\nspending in its financial report.<\/p>\n
\"For example, the office states in its report that it
\ndistributed books and pencils worth Rp 650 million (US$69,148) to
\npoor students, but it failed to attach necessary data about the
\nrecipients.\"<\/p>\n
The office also spent Rp 77 million on purchasing filing
\ncabinets, but failed to detail how many it bought, he said.<\/p>\n
Councillor Syamsidar Siregar lambasted poor coordination
\nbetween the City Finance Bureau and city offices following the
\nfinding of a significant difference of up to Rp 598 million
\nbetween the report made by the bureau and that of the Central
\nJakarta elementary education office.<\/p>\n
\"The City Finance Bureau reported that the office spent Rp
\n17.44 billion compared to the office's report of some Rp 16.9
\nbillion,\" Syamsidar said.<\/p>\n
The commission also discovered that some offices shared some
\nprograms, and each listed the same amounts in spending, such as
\nthe procurement of desks, chairs and blackboards for schools
\namounting to Rp 35 million.<\/p>\n
The commission also found that the North Jakarta elementary
\neducation office had a project \"to draw up programs and
\noperations\", which ate up Rp 200 million. None of the other
\noffices, however, had such a project.<\/p>\n
North Jakarta elementary education office head Iwan Setiawan
\ndenied there were irregularities in his financial report, but was
\nunable to give the required explanations.<\/p>\n
\"We will try to complete the necessary data required by the
\ncommission later,\" Iwan said.<\/p>\n
Last month, Commission E also noted alleged embezzlement of
\naround Rp 133 million in assistance funds for poor students at
\nstate junior high school 232, Pisangan, Pulogadung, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The assistance funds, which were meant to provide scholarships
\nto 798 poor students, had been used to purchase equipment, like
\nfurniture, a TV, a photocopy machine and an air-conditioner. The
\ncommission said the television, air-conditioner and furniture
\nwere for the principal's room.<\/p>\n
The police have dropped the case, saying no offense had been
\ncommitted.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/council-irked-by-poor-reports-on-education-fund-use-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}