Attorney General's Office takes heat for luxury cars

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib is in the hot seat for providing luxury cars for his staff despite the country's desperate financial straits.

Critics said the fund allocation, reaching billions of rupiah, would be better used to improve the professionalism of the Attorney General's Office and better the welfare of staff members.

"The government has no sense of crisis and solidarity with the suffering of its people," lawyer Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, the chairman of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, told The Jakarta Post.

He said the country needed leaders who could live modestly to empathize with the plight of those who had lost their jobs or were finding it difficult to feed their children.

Ghalib has provided his deputies with new German-made 318i BMWs, which carry an off-the-road price of Rp 300 million each.

The second level of officials -- directors and bureau chiefs -- have received new Toyota Kijang vans.

The officials have been using the vehicles in the past few weeks.

Ghalib said the budget for the cars was derived from operational funds from the Ministry of Finance.

"I ask for your understanding, (the funds) are not just any kind of money," Andi was quoted by Suara Pembaruan afternoon daily as saying.

"We're not even entitled to a motorcycle," a clerk at his office complained.

The office is already in the public spotlight because it is leading an investigation into the allegedly ill-gotten wealth of former president Soeharto.

Ghalib argued it had been a long time since the office had provided deputies with official cars for their daily duties.

Separately, Purwata Gandasubrata, former chief of the Supreme Court, told the Post that the type of official cars designated to staff members depended on the office's budget allocation.

Each brand allocated to officials was determined by staff members' position, as regulated in a government decree, he added.

The Development Finance Comptroller would investigate a vehicle provision if, for example, a director received a Volvo. The vehicle, which costs about Rp 700 million, is used by ministers.

Legislators also regretted the decision.

On Sunday,Kompas daily quoted legislator Abu Hasan Sazili Marjani as saying the perception remained that high-level officials should drive luxury vehicles when more economical vehicles were appropriate.

Aisyah Amini, who heads the House commission for government affairs, acknowledged public officials worked hard, but added: "Is it (providing luxury cars) a priority?"

Former prosecutor Andi Hamzah was quoted as saying the allocation of BMWs was an unprecedented perk for deputy attorneys. (01)