Basofi denies levies for Golkar account

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): Governor Basofi Soedirman has denied reports of levies to beef-up Golkar's political funds being taxed on civil servants.

"It's not true if people said there are fees, including for Golkar batik and yellow jacket. Those articles are being distributed to cadres for free," Basofi said here on Tuesday.

On the contrary, he said, Golkar already has an abundance of funds gathered from various private donations.

"Golkar already has sufficient funds for the coming elections. It wouldn't be necessary for it to tax bureaucrats," said Basofi, who is a member of the ruling Golkar.

He was commenting on reports from several civil servants, particularly teachers, concerning cuts in their monthly wages.

A number of teachers, members of the Golkar-affiliated Corps of Civil Servants (Korpri), revealed that donations are being automatically taken off their salaries.

The teachers said they were told that the donation for Golkar. They also said they were helpless and had to accept the cut.

The donations varied with the civil servants rank. Rank I employees were required to donate Rp 500 (US$ 21 cents) each month, Rank two Rp 1,000 a month, Rank three Rp 2,000 and Rank four Rp 3,000.

Despite Basofi's claims that Golkar had sufficient funds for the election, three districts in the Surabaya mayoralty have openly practiced such levies since August 1995. These are the Bubutan, Rungkut and Simokerto districts.

The head of the mayoralty's public relations department, Ismail Chamid, told The Jakarta Post here Tuesday that all the money taken must be returned to the civil servants.

Mayor Sunarto Sumoprawiro has instructed that the money be returned, Chamid said.

Basofi explained that Golkar has received funds from businessmen whose ventures benefited from the positive political and economic climate provided by Golkar's effort in national development.

"It has come to a point where I'm flooded and have to refuse (donations)," Basofi said of Golkar's elections funds.

He said he has never ordered his subordinates to undertake such levies. He went on to suggest that reports of such levies were being created by certain groups as a political move to attack Golkar.

Nevertheless, Basofi acknowledged that such incidents could also occur due to the lack of information on the amount of funds already available for next year's general elections.(15/mds)