Activists to report regent salary schemes

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

Lampung activists said on Saturday they planned to take several controversial salary schemes created by regents in the province to the Minister of Home Affairs.

Under a planned salary scheme for the regent and vice regent of North Lampung regency, as proposed in the 2005 regental budget, the North Lampung regent would get an annual basic salary of Rp 1.286 billion (US$139,000), or Rp 107 million per month, and the vice regent Rp 773 million, or Rp 64.4 million.

The activists, from the Network of Community Awareness on Transparency and Regional Autonomy (JMPTOD), said the proposed salary was disproportionate and not based on the provincial administration's finances.

If the plan went ahead, they would demand a judicial review be carried out by the Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission, they said.

Network coordinator Aryanto said such scheme was possible because the budget committee set up by the executives did not refer to the central government regulation No. 109/2000 on the financial compensation for regional heads. The executives, he said, mostly referred to the Minister of Home Affairs decree No. 20/2002 on budget proposal guidelines.

"The salaries of regional heads should be based on PP 109/2000, while the decree was no longer valid when Law 32/2004 on regional administrations came into effect," Aryanto said on Saturday.

Wahyu Sasongko, coordinator of Lampung Parliament Watch (LPW), agreed that the salary scheme should refer to the central government regulation.

According to the regulation, he said, the amount of salary and operational allowance of regent should be adjusted in line with the wealth, revenue and size of the area.