Defying protest, councillors adamant on operational funds

Rusman, Samarinda

Defying criticism by non-governmental organizations, members of the East Kalimantan provincial council were adamant that they deserved to receive Rp 5.4 billion (US$600,000) in operational funds.

"The allocation of the funds is proper and has a strong legal basis," said a member of the provincial council on Friday.

Kasyful Anwar As'ad, the coordinator of the council's budget committee, said the councillors met on Thursday in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and discussed charges by NGOs that if they accepted the operational funds, the councillors would be guilty of graft.

The meeting was attended by 28 councillors, or more than half of the 45 total councillors.

According to Kasyful, the councillors were entitled to receive the Rp 5.4 billion, or Rp 120 million each, because the proposal had gone through several discussions among the councillors as well as with the government.

He also said the governor of East Kalimantan had approved the proposal. Kasyful, who is the deputy speaker of the provincial council, said the funds were allocated to cover the additional operational expenses of the councillors.

"The councillors have already been allocated operational funds to cover official activities, including their visits to remote areas in the province, but that money is often far from sufficient.

"So we proposed this additional operational budget and it has been agreed to by both government officials and councillors in the province," said Kasyful.

The proposed distribution of these funds has caused a controversy in the province, with NGOs, including the State Wealth Concern, demanding that prosecutors look into the possibility of graft in the proposal.

The controversy began last month when the council issued two decisions to allocate Rp 4.5 billion of the council's Rp 42.3 billion in operational funds to the 45 councillors as a cash payment. Each councillor would receive Rp 100 million, in addition to Rp 20 million each from the council's health budget of Rp 900 million.

The NGOs allege this agreement to distribute the funds, which was reached before the councillors ended their five-year terms in September, was deliberately engineered to extract money from the budget for personal gain.

The groups say the money was simply another form of severance pay.

Provincial council speaker Sukardi Jarwo Putro refused to comment on the matter.

This controversy came to light amid a string of graft charges and prosecutions of regency and provincial councillors around the country.