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.