Lawmakers accept puzzling 'payments'<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
Several West Java legislative councillors have admitted to
\naccepting Rp 10 million (US$1,200) each from the West Java Bank,
\nwhich is owned by the provincial government.<\/p>\n
The payments, which were disbursed less than two months before
\nthe councillors end their five-year terms in April this year, are
\nsuspected to be severance bonuses for the councillors.<\/p>\n
Ruchiyat Noor, a councillor of the National Awakening Party
\n(PKB) faction, acknowledged on Tuesday that he had accepted last
\nFriday a cash payment of Rp 10 million.<\/p>\n
\"I received it from the council's finance department. Well, I
\nwas given money, so I simply accepted it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed that when he signed the corresponding receipt for
\nthe money, he saw that about 20 percent of the total 100
\nlegislators had already signed their receipts.<\/p>\n
Ruchiyat did not question the source of the money, because it
\nwas given officially by the finance department and he felt he had
\nthe right to accept it.<\/p>\n
Reza Nasrullah, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) councillor,
\nsaid he had been asked to sign a receipt for the cash, but he and
\nanother councillor from the same party, Yudi Widiana Adia,
\nrefused to take the money. \"It's not clear where the money comes
\nfrom, nor its purpose,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Reza recalled noticing that the receipt said \"Fund for
\nlegislative members from the West Java Bank (Bank Jabar)\", so
\nthought it might have come from that bank.<\/p>\n
Separately, West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, who is also a
\ncommissioner of the bank, denied allegations that the Rp 10
\nmillion was part of the councillors' severance bonuses.<\/p>\n
He said he had no idea where the money came from and why the
\nmoney was disbursed to the councillors, and promised to
\ninvestigate the matter.<\/p>\n
The provision of such \"honorariums\" to councillors is common
\nin many regional governments that felt it right to give the
\npayments to councillors, as they had contributed much to regional
\ndevelopment during their five years in office.<\/p>\n
However, several civic affairs non-governmental organizations
\nand students have opposed the honorariums, saying that the
\ncouncillors already receive good salaries. Moreover, they said
\nmany councillors had failed to represent the people's interests
\nand instead were mere rubber-stamp legislators.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/lawmakers-accept-puzzling-payments-1447893297",
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