Councillors demand Rp 4b life assurance

Councillors demand Rp 4b life assurance

JAKARTA (JP): After courting controversy for recent trips
abroad, the City Council has now asked the city administration to
provide councillors, for the first time ever, with life
assurance.

"It's such a headache. The councillors have now demanded Rp
4.25 billion (US$472,222) for life assurance for the council's 85
members," a senior city official, who asked not to be named, told
reporters here on Thursday.

He said the administration would provide the money, which
would be taken from the current budget, while the council would
decide which assurance firms they would deal with.

The official claimed that the demand for life assurance had
only occurred during the current term of councillors, saying that
past councillors had never received such assurance.

"The demand is likely to be approved by the administration as
the revised budget, which is currently being discussed, needs the
council's approval," the official said.

Last month, a group of councillors made controversial visits
to the U.S., Japan and China. They claimed they were for
comparative studies, but documents from a Jakarta travel bureau
and letters from the respective Indonesian embassies proved that
their trips were for leisure purposes only.

Separately, the council's deputy chairman, Djafar Badjeber,
admitted that the council had demanded life assurance, but the
amount was lower than Rp 4 billion.

"City administration employees receive life assurance. So, why
shouldn't we?", said Djafar, who is also chairman of the city
chapter of the United Development Party (PPP).

He acknowledged that the Rp 4 billion fund for assurance was
part of an additional special allowance of Rp 5 billion for city
councillors this year.

He said that during a meeting in Horison Hotel, Ancol, North
Jakarta, the council had agreed to lower the allowance from an
earlier proposal of Rp 11.7 billion to about Rp 5 billion.

"I asked my friends to lower the additional allowance as we
are watched closely by the public, especially the media," said
Djafar, who leads a special team tasked to discuss the revised
budget.

Besides the additional allowance, the 2001 city budget has
allocated about Rp 48 billion for a special allowance for the 85
councillors.

The councillors, who receive a monthly salary of Rp 7 million,
are entitled to several allowances, including presents, rice,
medical services, clothes and travel allowances, which totaled,
for all 85 councillors combined, about Rp 70 billion this year.

Each councillor is believed to earn a monthly income of
between Rp 60 million and Rp 80 million, or about Rp 1 billion
this year.

The special allowance fund is given to the councillors for
their jobs in processing and passing at least 15 bylaws this
year. So far, only six bylaws have been completed.

"Not all the money would be disbursed. If the bylaws could not
be completed, the fund would also not be disbursed," he said.

Chairman of Council Commission C for financial and budgetary
affairs Amarullah Asbah urged the public not to question the
council's allowances as they were far lower than what had been
budgeted.

"Don't make it a big issue as it's no more that 2.5 percent of
the budget," Amarullah of Golkar Party told reporters.(jun)