President's nonbudgetary funds reviewed<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has decided to temporarily
\nfreeze nonbudgetary funds, as their function and regulation
\nneeded reviewing, the President's Secretary, Kemal Munawar, said
\non Friday.<\/p>\n
The nonbudgetary funds were introduced during the tenure of
\nformer president Soeharto and they amounted to hundreds of
\nbillions of rupiah. They were usually disbursed when the
\npresident needed to provide emergency donations.<\/p>\n
However, there have been no public reports on the existence of
\nsuch funds, nor from where, how much and what such a huge amount
\nof money was spent on.<\/p>\n
\"Because of that, the President has decided to freeze the
\nfunds to allow time for further investigation. So, we haven't
\naccepted any income or spent any of the money since Ibu Megawati
\ntook office,\" Kemal said.<\/p>\n
He further explained that for years the funds were placed
\nunder the authority of the State Secretariat and only during the
\ntenure of former president Abdurrahman Wahid were they placed
\nunder the president's secretary.<\/p>\n
\"Usually, the funds were utilized when the president had to
\nmake a donation for flood victims, for the construction of places
\nof worship or other kinds of grants during official trips. They
\nare more like emergency funds,\" Kemal added.<\/p>\n
He declined to disclose the amount, saying only that they did
\nnot reach trillions of rupiah as people had suspected.<\/p>\n
Previously, it had been common practice in the Indonesian
\ngovernment to have nonbudgetary funds. They were not recorded in
\nthe State Budget, thereby were prone to misuse as there was no
\ncontrol over their disbursement.<\/p>\n
The funds were mostly collected from state-owned enterprises
\nor other financial sources in government institutions.<\/p>\n
However, after the downfall of Soeharto, there had been
\ngrowing demands to examine the presence of such funding, which
\nended up with the government deciding to scrap all kinds of
\ncollections from state institutions.<\/p>\n
During Abdurrahman's tenure, the government decided to stop
\nthe collection but continued to use the available funds for
\ncertain expenses, including repeated overseas trips.<\/p>\n
Under the coming new structure of the State Secretariat, there
\nhas not yet been any decision on where the funds should be placed
\nor how to regulate them.<\/p>\n
Legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
\n(PDI Perjuangan) Sophan Sophiaan said that it was necessary to
\nhave such funds as the president needed them, but it was
\nimportant that they were made accountable to the public.<\/p>\n
\"What is needed is public accountability. The public should
\nknow the purpose and usage of such funds. All state income and
\nexpenses should be recorded in the State Budget,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/presidents-nonbudgetary-funds-reviewed-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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