Government comes under fire on 'reward' for DPR members

Government comes under fire on 'reward' for DPR members

JAKARTA (JP): A prominent member of the House of
Representatives from the United Development Party (PPP) on Sunday
expressed his opposition to President B.J. Habibie's plan to give
a "token of gratitude", worth Rp 150 million (US$18,750), to each
of the 500 House members.

Faisal Baasir, who is the deputy chairman of PPP, told The
Jakarta Post that the President's plan, revealed on Saturday
evening by National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais,
would disgrace the House members.

"If the government intends to give the money as a reward for
our achievements, it will only humiliate the legislators," Baasir
said.

According to him, the House members were chosen by people and
were carrying out the people's mandate, therefore only the people
deserved the reward.

"The value of the token gift from the government is nothing,
considering our service to the public," he said.

Baasir suggested Habibie give them certificates as a reward
for their work.

He proposed that the fund allocated for the "token of
gratitude", which totaled Rp 75 billion, could be distributed to
the 48 competing political parties.

The parties, he said, have spent a lot of money on recent
campaigning activities.

As reported earlier, Amien told the press in his party's "post
campaign" party on Saturday that he had a copy of a decree signed
by Habibie expressing his gratitude for the hard work of the 500
legislators.

As a "token of gratitude", Amien said quoting the letter,
Habibie would present Rp 150 million to each of the House
members.

As of Sunday evening, none of Habibie's officials could be
reached to comment on the plan, which is said by Amien to be
stipulated in presidential decree 47/1999, dated May 20.

No idea

On the other hand, many of the current legislators, who will
end their term on Aug. 24 this year, having served in the House
since 1997, claimed to have no idea about Habibie's generous
plan.

Some said that they had never heard of the matter, which
according to a report would be handled by the Ministry of
Finance.

"We could not make a comment yet, since we don't know the
essence of the decree," veteran legislator Abu Hasan Sadzili from
Golkar told the Post.

According to the previous schedule, the legislators, who were
repeatedly asked by anti-Soeharto protesters to step down
following the resignation of the former president, would end
their tenure in the year 2002.

But following the fall of Soeharto, Habibie's administration
decided under public pressure to bring forward the general
election.

The new legislators will be elected based on the results of
Monday's polls.

According to the existing House regulation No. 12, issued in
1980, the current legislators would receive a retirement pension.

"For example, a legislator working for a period of five years
would receive a pension of Rp 1.5 million per month," legislator
Baasir said.

Therefore, he said, Habibie's "token of gratitude" would be
too much for the House members.

Baasir speculated that the money, if there is no strong
objection from the public, would be transferred to the bank
accounts of the legislators a few days before their last day in
the House.

Amien told the press on Saturday that one of Habibie's
considerations in issuing the decree was the good performance of
the House members during their tenure of only two years, instead
of the normal five-year period.

"They have produced various bills in line with the MPR
(People's Consultative Assembly) decrees and the agreements
between the government and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF)," Amien quoted a copy of Habibie's presidential decree as
saying.

Amien said that he strongly opposed the plan.

"The fate of the workers of the food and candy manufacturers
PT Mayora remains uncertain, and this is so for many people," he
said, referring to hundreds of Mayora workers who staged a noisy
protest here last week, demanding the company reemploy them after
they were dismissed late April.

PAN secretary-general Faisal Basri echoed his party chairman's
statement, saying that Habibie's government had no sense of
crisis.

"Our people are facing economic hardship but still the
government seems not to care about it," he told the Post.
(asa/bsr)