Councillors seek pension funding
Councillors seek pension funding
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post,
Bandung/Bandarlampung
Provincial councillors have started to demand hundreds of
millions of rupiah in pension funding for each of them, as they
will end their five-year terms next year.
The requests were made five months ahead of the 2004 general
elections amid widespread instances of corruption involving many
members of legislative councils across the country.
In Bandung, 100 members of the West Java legislative council
are each seeking to obtain up to Rp 350 million (US$41,176) in
pension funding from the 2004 provincial budget.
Councillor Reza Nasrullah said on Wednesday that 25 budget
committee members and six faction leaders in the council filed a
proposal for the pension funding during a meeting last week.
"In the meeting, councillors from the Justice Party proposed
only Rp 50 million, while many others proposed Rp 350 million.
Some other council members even suggested Rp 2 billion," he told
The Jakarta Post.
Reza, however, said the budget committee had agreed to discuss
allocations of Rp 50 million to Rp 350 million proposed for
pension funding.
The proposal came via all 100 council members, who were facing
a graft probe by the West Java Prosecutor's Office into their
alleged role in a Rp 25 billion budget irregularity. The funds
had been allocated to help build houses for the councillors.
It was also ironic that the request was made while around nine
million, or 25 percent, of some 37 million people in West Java
were living under conditions of poverty.
Most councillors in the country's most populous province
appeared to support the proposal, claiming they deserved the
pension funding as they had worked hard to serve the public since
1999.
In 2002, West Java council issued a regulation on retirement
allowances for its members.
As part of their efforts to press ahead with their request to
get pension funding at least 31 councillors made a comparative
study to Central Java and East Java.
"The Central Java legislative council reckons to allocate Rp
100 million in retirement allowance for each of its own members,"
said a councillor from West Java, who declined to be named.
Similarly, the 75-member legislative council of Lampung also
sought retirement allowances of Rp 200 million for each of its
members next year.
The demand was based on Regulation No. 4/2000 on the
composition of regional finance, which the council enacted three
years ago, along with the Lampung administration.
In 1999, each local councillor received Rp 50 million upon
retirement, or almost 10 percent of the provincial income.
"In 1999 alone, when Lampung's income was only Rp 70 billion,
the pension fund for each councillor was Rp 50 million.
Therefore, it's to be expected that as our income has now reached
Rp 200 billion, we are asking for pension funding of Rp 200
million each," council speaker Abbas Hadisunyoto said on
Wednesday.
"It's not corruption as it is covered under existing
regulations," he argued.
On average, councillors in Lampung, West Java and other
provinces receive a total of more than Rp 20 million in monthly
take-home pay, which includes various allowances.
Lampung Parliament Watch coordinator Tisnanta slammed the
pension funding request, saying it was a "systematic crime" on
the part of councillors to make themselves richer.
"Although it is covered in the regional regulations, a request
for pension funding is merely a trick by councillors to enrich
themselves," said Trisnanta, who is a legal expert from the
University of Lampung.
Anti-Corruption Committee (Koak) executive director Sahlan
Mahbub said the pension funding proposal could be categorized as
corruption.
"The indications are clear that councillors are proposing,
discussing and deciding regulations on pension funding
themselves. They could be charged with graft if they received
such money from the budget," he said.