Councillors demand higher pay, benefits
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite their dismal record passing legislation, city councillors are demanding an increase in salary and benefits in 2006 and are threatening to stall the city budget deliberations until they get it.
Council speaker Ade Surapriatna said on Friday that should the government ignore their demands, councillors would not deliberate the city's 2006 budget.
"The City Council will abide by a decision of the consultative body of provincial legislators across the country not to discuss city budgets for 2006 if the government does not accommodate our demands," Ade said.
The demand for a pay hike comes despite the councillors' poor record in council chambers. Since their inauguration in August last year, city councillors have managed to deliberate and pass three bylaws, far lower than their target of 22 bylaws to August, or two a month.
The salary and benefits for council members are regulated by the central government through Presidential Decree No 24/2004 on protocol and financial for leaders and members of regional councils (DPRD).
The salary package for councillors are different in each region, depending on their financial status.
In Jakarta, each councillor earns a basic salary of around Rp 3 million a month, which inflates to at least Rp 20 million (US$1,941) monthly when benefits are included.
Should city councillors carry out their threat, the Jakarta administration said it would use this year's budget, who stood at some Rp 14 trillion (US$1.4 billion) for next year.
Ade said that legislative councils nationwide had asked for the central government to provide official vehicles, housing allowances and higher health insurance for councillors, as well as operational funds for council leaders.
"If the governor is entitled to operational funds, why not council leaders? We often donate our own money to victims of natural disasters because there is no budget allocation for it," Ade said.
"And if officials of the city administration up to the subdistrict heads get official vehicles, why not city councillors, he said.
Ade said councillors were also asking for the replacement of the term "house rental fees" as stated in the presidential decree with the phrase "house allowance."
"If we use rental fees, there will be a legal consequence for councillors who do not use the facility for renting a house. Meanwhile, if the fund is treated as allowance, there will be no legal consequences. Councillors can freely use the money (for whatever they want)," he said.
Governor Sutiyoso earlier issued gubernatorial decree No.17/2005 as a directive for the later presidential decree.
Sutiyoso's decree set councillors' monthly housing allowance was at Rp 20 million for leaders and Rp 15 million for members.
If they sit on the budgetary committee, become a commission member, are elected a member of council's ethics committee or if they make official visits to constituents, they receive a monthly stipends ranging from Rp 130,000 to Rp 326,250 for their work deliberating each bylaw.
The decree also allocates funds for overseas and national trips for all councillors. Each councillor (leader or member) receives a Rp 250,000 per day allowance during official out-of- town trips.
For official visits inside Jakarta, councillors receive local transportation fees per visit -- Rp 1 million for council speaker, Rp 900,000 for deputies and Rp 750,000 for members.
They are also entitled to Rp 1.5 million payouts for the Speaker, Rp 1.4 million for deputies and Rp 1.25 for members to fund official activities during the visit.