Council unanimously approves draft 2004 budget revision

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Shuttler Taufik Hidayat's successful play for gold on Saturday in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games turned out to be an unexpected trump card for Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, as it glossed over contentious issues in the revised draft budget, which the City Council approved unanimously on Monday.

Although many substantial problems previously scrutinized by the councillors remain, the Council members made the final official meeting on Monday between the incumbent lawmakers and executives a sweet farewell.

The 75 new councillors will be sworn in on Wednesday.

The Justice Party (PK) faction, which has long been known as a persistent critic of the administration, praised Sutiyoso's hard work "in making Indonesia proud of the Badminton Association of Indonesia's success in winning a gold in Athens".

Sutiyoso is slated to return to Jakarta on Tuesday after a week accompanying the competing shuttlers in the Olympics in his capacity as the association's chairman. Sutiyoso was inaugurated as the new chairman on July 17.

"We express our gratitude to the Governor's cooperation, especially for his open-mindedness in tackling the city's problems in a positive and optimistic manner," said PK faction chairman Ahmad Heryawan, apologizing for their critical stance during the five-year term.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), National Mandate Party (PAN) and National Awakening Party (PKB) factions highlighted the amount and allocated expenditures in the budget draft, which they said were not well planned.

However, none of the factions raised any alternatives to resolve the issues.

With the approval of the additional budget spending of Rp 453 billion (US$50.89 million), the 2004 city budget now totals Rp 12.731 trillion, against last year's Rp 11.65 trillion.