Agencies obliged to fund councillors' trips: Sutiyoso

Agencies obliged to fund councillors' trips: Sutiyoso

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso admitted on Tuesday that his
administration, including its agencies, were often forced by city
councillors to finance their foreign trips, saying that the trips
were not planned by the administration.

"According to the reports that I have received, the agencies
had been forced to finance the councillors' trips. We had to
approve the trips," Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall, without
clarifying why his administration "had" to approve them.

He said the recent trips conducted by dozens of councillors
were done on their own initiative. "This is not planned by the
administration. If the administration's officials visit foreign
countries, they only invite one or two councillors," he added.

As many as 15 councillors of City Council Commission D for
development affairs visited Beijing and South Korea in October
with funds from the city sanitation agency.

Eight councillors from City Council Commission C for financial
and budgetary affairs departed last Friday for Bangkok on a trip
funded by the city revenue agency.

While, nine councillors from Commission C for administrative
and legal affairs visited Morocco and Spain for a comparative
study on sister cities and will return home this week.

City sanitation agency head Selamat Limbong denied on Tuesday
that his agency funded the councillors trip to Beijing and South
Korea.

"There was no fund for the trip. I did not go and no officials
from the agency went abroad," Selamat told reporters after
meeting Sutiyoso.

Selamat's statement was consistent with the denial by
Commission D chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto that none of the
commission's members joined the trip.

But councillor Amarullah Asbah of the Golkar Party admitted on
Tuesday that he joined the trip to South Korea in October along
with five other councillors.

"The trip was funded by the sanitation agency. We studied
garbage processing in Seoul," Amarullah who is also a member of
Commission D, told reporters.

He admitted that the trip was proposed by the councillors,
denying that it violated regulations on procedures in utilizing
the budget.

"The fund was there and it could be used for a comparative
study. It was very useful," he said.

He did not mention his fellow councillors who joined the trip.

The trips which were between seven days and 10 days long, were
mostly joined by councillors from the Indonesian Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party. Both Parties
supported the reelection of Sutiyoso in the gubernatorial
election in September.

Amarullah denied that the trip was "a repayment" from Sutiyoso
for their support during the election.

"It has nothing to do with the election," he said.

A reliable source said earlier while the six councillors went
to Seoul, the remaining nine councillors of Commission D visited
Beijing. The source said Sayogo of PDI Perjuangan also joined the
trip.

The trips have disrupted council meetings. A meeting to
discuss the City Strategic Planning (Renstra) was postponed on
Saturday due to the absence of the councillors.

The public has criticized the trips and accused the
councillors of wasting taxpayers money on junkets. The 2001 city
budget allocated funds for councillors' travel but this year's
budget did not include any such fund due to strong public
criticism.

In 2000, 16 councillors of Commission D visited South Korea,
Japan and Australia with a fund from city-owned developer PT
Pembangunan Jaya Ancol.

Besides taking travel allowances from the developer of
US$5,000 each the councillors also received Rp 50 million each
from the city budget.

The prosecutor's office declared three councillors Tarmidi
Suhardjo, Tarmidi Edy Suwarno both from PDI Perjuangan and Ali
Imron from the United Development Party as suspects in the case
for taking the allowance without joining the trips.