Councillors' welfare decree revised
Councillors' welfare decree revised
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso is in the process of revising Gubernatorial
Regulation No. 114/2005 on financial affairs, which could result
in a sizable cut in the monthly pay of the 75 city councillors.
The revision is a logical consequence of the issuance of
Ministry of Home Affairs Regulation No. 37/2005, which scrapped
the numerous allowances councillors receive to pad their basic
salaries.
"We hope the President will soon replace (home affairs
Minister) Muhammad Ma'ruf. He is the mastermind of the government
regulation," said one city councillor while talking about the
issue with his colleagues last Wednesday.
The government regulation and the planned revision of the
gubernatorial regulation are hot topics of conversation among
councillors in their office on Jl. Kebon Sirih in Central
Jakarta.
Governor Sutiyoso issued Regulation No. 114/2005 in September,
which was a revision of an earlier gubernatorial regulation, in
response to demands by city councillors for more money.
The regulation was issued after council speaker Ade
Surapriatna, on behalf of the Regional Councils Association, said
councillors would not deliberate draft regional budgets if the
central and regional administrations did not respond to their
demands for higher pay.
Regulation No. 114/2005 made it possible for the monthly
income of each city councillor to increase from about Rp 25
million (US$2,500) to well over Rp 50 million, thanks to numerous
allowances.
Sutiyoso, however, said he now had to revise the regulation
because a number of its articles were not in line with Government
Regulation No. 37/2005.
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said on Wednesday the revision
of the gubernatorial regulation was expected to be finished early
next year.
He said among the articles that would be revised was one that
specified councillors were entitled to incentives for attending
public hearings and meetings, or for making official visits
inside the city.
The incentives ranged from Rp 2 million for the council
speaker to Rp 1.75 million for deputy speakers and Rp 1.5 million
for councillors, for each hearing, meeting or official visit.
One councillor, who requested anonymity, said each councillor
could earn two to four incentives a day, meaning a councillor
could make over Rp 75 million a month.
Several officials have speculated the council's sluggish
deliberation of the 2006 draft city budget has something to do
with the planned revision of the gubernatorial regulation.
However, this speculation was denied by a deputy speaker of
the council, Achmad Heryawan.
"There is no relationship between the prolonged process of the
budget deliberation and the planned revision of the gubernatorial
regulation," he said on Wednesday.
The council failed to approve the draft budget on Dec. 19, as
had been scheduled.
According to Heryawan, the budget deliberations were almost
finished and the budget was scheduled to be approved on Saturday.