Corruption spotted among councillors

Corruption spotted among councillors

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City councillors could possibly commit corruption, but not on
the same scale as that which may have been committed by their
predecessors, a deputy chairman of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) hinted on Saturday.

The assessment was made by Mangara Siahaan during a regional
working meeting organized by the city chapter of PDI-Perjuangan
in Central Jakarta.

"If, I said if, some of them (councillors) really committed
corruption, it (the amount) is quite small," he said.

Hundreds of participants in the working meeting responded to
the statement with a burst of laughter and applause.

Mangara made the comment in the wake of the refusal by many
city councillors, including those of his party, to submit their
wealth reports to the State Officials' Wealth Audit Commission
(KPKPN).

Basically, he said, councillors from the party had no problem
with submitting their wealth reports, which they received about
six months ago. However, they had reached an agreement with other
councillors that it would be done after KPKPN had set up its city
chapter (KPKPD).

He said that the KPKPN should have first asked former
officials, instead of the current officials, to report their
wealth because corruption in the past was more rampant.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also the party's
chairwoman, ordered the party's councillors last month to submit
their wealth reports to KPKPN.

Councillors from the United Development Party and the National
Mandate Party submitted their reports earlier, following public
criticism on the issue.

Many others refused, saying that Law No. 28 on the KPKPN did
not specify councillors as public servants.

They argued that the law should be revised first, and if they
were deemed to be public servants, they should also obtain
benefits such as retirement fees.