Activists slam councillors over excessive severance pay

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung, Lampung

A group of activists urged Lampung residents on Thursday not to reelect any of the 45 Bandar Lampung legislative councillors in the upcoming April elections, as they were all crooked politicians.

"They have committed graft," said Mukri Priatna, an activist at the Don't Vote for Crooked Politicians Movement (GJPPB).

The graft allegation, according to Mukri, centers on the recent proposal submitted by the Bandar Lampung legislature to the Bandar Lampung mayoral administration, requesting Rp 125 million (US$15,625) in severance pay for each councillor at the end of their terms next month.

He said the amount proposed was far more than that regulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A ministerial decree issued on Jan. 16 rules that the maximum severance pay permitted for councillors is 35 percent of their Rp 2 million monthly allowance multiplied by their period of service.

The councillors have each served 60 months in office, so are entitled a maximum severance pay of Rp 42 million ($5,250) each.

"They have demanded much more money, and has violated the decree. It is a case of budget graft," said Mukri.

The proposal has been submitted to the Bandar Lampung mayoral government, which is to make a decision next week on the proposal.

Despite the criticism, the councillors asserted that they deserved the severance pay. The amount of money was proper, they said, as Lampung's revenue was also on the rise.

"In 1999, the mayoral revenue was Rp 70 billion, and councillors received Rp 50 million in severance pay," said Srie Atidah, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction.

Last year, Lampung raised Rp 200 billion in revenue.

"It is proper that we demand more severance pay," she said.

Agus Sahlan Mahbub, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, a local non-governmental organization, commented that it was not fair to compare councillors' severance pay with the mayoral revenue.

"The amount of severance pay violates principles of efficiency and ethics... The councillors do not have a sense of crisis," he said, and alleged that councillors were trying to enrich themselves at the expense of people, he added.

Tisnanta, coordinator of the Lampung Parliament Watch (LPW), said the councillors did not deserve the severance pay, as they were already well-paid.

"They receive a monthly salary of Rp 14 million, which is already a great amount of money," he said.