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)