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.