Government urged to be transparent on nonbudgetary funds

Government urged to be transparent on nonbudgetary funds

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Transparency International Indonesia (TII) is urging the
government to be transparent in the use of its three nonbudgetary
fund sources to avoid abuse.

"We demand transparency in the use of three fund sources, with
a total estimated sum of over Rp 80 trillion (US$9.2 billion) in
cash," TII secretary general Emmy Hafild told The Jakarta Post on
Monday.

The three nonbudgetary fund sources, which could be used to
help finance the deficit in the state budget (APBN), were account
No. 69 for contingency reserves, the investment fund account
(RDI) and funds set aside by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog),
she said.

The money for account No. 69 derived from, among other
sources, reforestation funds and taxation on forest products,
while the money for RDI derived from profit from the extension of
two-step loans, she said.

The total funds in the two accounts alone were estimated at Rp
80 trillion, while the Bulog fund was very enormous but no exact
figure was available, she said.

As the three fund sources were not included in the state
budget and not reported by the government openly, not many people
were aware of their existence, she said.

Faisal Baasir, deputy chairman of House of Representatives
Commission IX for financial affairs, said the government should
be accountable in the use of nonbudgetary fund sources,
especially as they were not included in the state budget.

"The two accounts are supposed to be included in the state
budget this year, but we (in Commission IX) have not been
informed of the latest development. Currently we await the audit
result on the accounts from the Financial and Development Control
Agency (BPKP) and plan to meet with the government in the current
sitting to discuss the mechanism for including the nonbudgetary
funds into the state budget," he said.

Anggito Abimanyu, head of the Fiscal Analysis Agency (BAF) of
the Ministry of Finance, said that this year some funds from the
two accounts were going to be included in the state budget.

"However, it is impossible to include all the funds into the
state budget because the government needs them for contingency
purposes. For example, the funds can be used as an advance
payment for civil servant salaries," he said.

TII is the Indonesian chapter of Berlin-based Transparency
International (TI), a non-governmental organization specializing
on corruption monitoring.

Every year TI publishes ratings on the most corrupt countries
in the world. Indonesia's was ranked the most corrupt of 12
national economies in Asia last year.

In the 2003 outlook, TII had high hopes because Indonesia now
had legislation in place on money laundering and on the
eradication of corruption, Emmy said.

However, to fight corruption two more laws on the protection
of witnesses and victims and on access to information were
needed, she said.

"If we had the four laws, then there might be real hope of a
better future in a corruption-free Indonesia," she said.

According to TII, the eradication of corruption last year was
a failure due to an absence of integrity on behalf of public
officials, as some of them did not resign from their positions
over their alleged misconduct.

"Public officials tend to fight to save face rather than carry
out their job of serving the people. For example we have seen
officials suing each other," Emmy said.

TII also noted a few potential problems in the near future
concerning transparency in the planned closure of the Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), the independence of the
proposed members of the anticorruption commission and donations
to political parties.