Budget debate delayed due to Golkar anniversary
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives budget committee surprisingly decided to delay until Monday the completion of the crucial 2002 budget debate out of respect for the Golkar Party anniversary.
The House initially set a Saturday deadline to pave the way for the approval of the budget on Oct. 23.
The delay was confirmed during a debate session late on Friday after Golkar legislators insisted that they could not participate on Saturday because they must attend an anniversary celebration instead.
Nonetheless, Committee Chairman Benny Pasaribu ensured the public that the House would still be able to pass the budget bill into law by Oct. 24, shortly before legislators begin a month- long recess period.
He reminded fellow legislators of the importance of a timely completion of the budget deliberations.
"If we can't complete this (on time), it could create new uncertainty that would be damaging to the economic recovery process .... The regions are also all waiting for this ...," Benny Pasaribu told fellow legislators during the Friday debate attended by Finance Minister Boediono.
A delay in the approval of the budget would have serious consequences, including difficulties for all provincial and regency administrations in drawing up their respective 2002 budgets in a timely fashion.
Some provincial administration officials and legislators told The Jakarta Post earlier that they could not afford any delay.
Angry regions could trigger a new round of social and political instability in the country.
The legislators debated the various components of state expenditure during Friday's session.
By 11 p.m., only two components had been approved: personnel expenditure, set at Rp 40.75 trillion (US$4.04 billion), and material (goods and services) expenditure, at Rp 11.61 trillion.
"This means that there will be no increase in the salary of government employees," Boediono said.
Domestic revenue for next year is set at Rp 301.87 trillion.
The 2002 budget deficit is projected at 2.5 percent of gross domestic product.
Legislators said that the most difficult item to be decided would be the fuel subsidy.