Despite plea, still no wealth reports from councillors

Despite plea, still no wealth reports from councillors

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Councillors were still unwilling to submit their wealth
reports to the Public Servants' Wealth Auditing Commission
(KPKPN), despite President Megawati Soekarnoputri's call for them
to do so.

The Council's Faction Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDIP), Agung Imam Soemanto, said here on
Wednesday that he could not yet decide on the matter as his
faction first had to consult with the executive board of the
party's city chapter.

"Since we are under the party's city chapter, we should
discuss it with them. Probably we would decide it on Oct. 5 after
the party had completed its national meeting here," Agung told
reporters.

He claimed that he personally had no problem in submitting his
wealth report, but said it was agreed that they should submit the
reports together.

He said he regretted the wealth auditing commission's
inconsistency in planning earlier to set up its city chapter
(KPKPD) before asking the councillors to provide their wealth
reports.

"However since it has been decided by the party's central
board, we could not reject it. But we would consult first with
the party's city chapter," Agung reiterated.

Megawati, who is also the party's chairwoman, on Tuesday
ordered the party's councillors to submit their wealth reports to
KPKPN.

Speaking at the party's national meeting here, she even
described the councillors as "arrogant and irresponsible" for
refusing to submit their wealth reports.

City council deputy chairman Djafar Badjeber said the
councillors were still reluctant to submit their wealth reports
since the regulation stipulated that councillors were not
identified as state officials.

"There is still a problem with the different perceptions of
the regulation," Djafar who is also chairman of the United
Development Party's city chapter, said.

He claimed that he had completed his wealth report, but
insisted that it would not be submitted before the regulation had
been reviewed.

Djafar earlier said he would not submit his wealth report even
if the KPKPN ordered police to arrest him or the prosecutor's
office to investigate him.

However, not all 85 city councillors refused to submit their
wealth reports; at least 13 councillors of the National Mandate
Party (PAN) had decided to hand over their reports.

Unlike other factions, it quickly made the decision after the
party's deputy chairman A.M. Fatwa ordered them to submit reports
last week.

Activists believed that the councillors' rejection was due to
the fact that their wealth had sharply increased over the last
two years compared to their wealth before they took office.