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.