Budget proposal draws criticism

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Councillors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the Tangerang regency election committee (Panlih) for marking up a budget proposal to finance the regency election next March.

After a heated debate, the election committee, chaired by Dadang Kartasamita, who is also the regency legislative council speaker, agreed on Monday to propose Rp 2 billion to fund the election. They will soon present the budget proposal to the regency administration.

However, many of the committee members have reportedly opposed the budget plan, saying that it is too much for a regency election.

According to Dadang, the election funding will be taken from the administration's 2003 budget (RAPBD).

He said that Rp 2 billion was a relatively small amount as it was only 0.28 percent of the regency administration's 2003 budget, which amounts to Rp 830 billion.

"Since the election committee must work for six months, I think the proposed election budget is correct," he said, adding that the regency election in several other regencies required more than Rp 2 billion.

He said, however, that the election fund was not final as the committee was still discussing it and it would later be subject to the approval of the council's budget committee.

Separately, Ibnu Jandi of Lembaga Kajian Publik, a non- governmental organization dealing with public policy studies, said that the proposed election budget was excessive, as the actual cost of the election would be no more than Rp 500 million.

"This amount is more than enough. The council has its own budget for committee meetings," Jandi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.