Councillors to get Rp 15m monthly housing allowance
Councillors to get Rp 15m monthly housing allowance
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
City councillors now have every reason to smile.
Governor Sutiyoso has set councillors' monthly housing
allowance at Rp 20 million for leaders and Rp 15 million for
members, tripling their income from the previous Rp 6.5 million
to over Rp 20 million.
Councillors will also receive a monthly stipend ranging from
Rp 130,000 to Rp 326,250 for deliberating bylaws, if they sit on
the budgetary committee or become a commission member or are
elected a member of council's ethics committee or if they make
official visits to constituents.
According to Gubernatorial Decree No. 17/2005 signed on Jan.
25, but which was revealed only on Thursday, each of the city's
71 council members will receive a Rp 15 million housing
allowance, while the four council leaders will get Rp 20 million
per month.
However, since the four council leaders live in official
residences provided by the state, they are unlikely to receive
the Rp 20 million allowance.
Previously, council members were paid neither housing
allowance nor monthly salaries but did get the Rp 6.5 million
stipend.
The payment of a housing allowance for councillors is
stipulated in government regulation No. 24/2004 on protocol and
financial matters for leaders and members of regional councils
(DPRDs).
The regulation states that regional administrations may
provide housing allowances for regional councillors if they could
afford it.
City councillors had demanded a Rp 12.5 million monthly
housing allowance for members and Rp 15 million for council
leaders.
The decree also allocates funds for foreign and out-of-town
trips for all councillors. Each councillor (leader or member)
will receive a Rp 250,000 per day allowance during official out-
of-town trips.
For official visits inside Jakarta, councillors will 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 for speaker, Rp 1.4
million for deputies and Rp 1.25 for members for every official
activity during the visit.
Should they make official overseas trips, council leaders will
receive US$150 and members US$125.
Commenting on the income of city councillors, chairman of the
Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said
councillors should not receive a housing allowance because all of
them had houses in the capital.
"Although the prevailing regulation allows them to accept such
allowances, they do not deserve such facilities. Those facilities
are reserved for councillors in other regions, whose houses are
far from their offices," he said.
Monthly incomes of city councillors
1. Housing allowance
- Rp 20 million for leaders
- Rp 15 million for members
2. Functional allowance
- Rp 4.35 million for speaker
- Rp 3.48 million for deputies
- Rp 3.26 million for members
3. Representation allowance
- Rp 3 million for speaker
- Rp 2.4 million for deputies
- Rp 2.25 million for members
4. Family allowance
- Rp 383,000 for speaker
- Rp 303,000 for deputies
- Rp 293,000 for members
5. Package allowance
- Rp 300,000 for speaker
- Rp 240,000 for deputies
- Rp 225,000 for members