Defying protest, councillors adamant on operational funds

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.