Governor defends purchase of cars for councillors
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso defended on Friday the purchase of new official cars for councillors, saying the decision was taken after consultation with the City Council, as requested by the public.
"I had already presented my arguments to delay or cancel the purchase. Nevertheless the City Council approved it. So, how could I reject it?" said Sutiyoso after Friday prayers at the City Hall.
Sutiyoso said the purchase was in accordance with City Bylaw No. 4/2000 on the amendment of the 2000 city budget, which had been approved by the city administration and the City Council.
"It would violate the city bylaw if we rejected the purchase," he said.
The city administration has paid Rp 5.83 billion (US$613,680), drawn from development expenditure in the City Budget 2000, to purchase 55 Hyundai Accent GLS sedans, which cost Rp 118 million each. This has created some controversy among the public who believe that the funds should have been spent on other important things. There is also speculation that the allocation of the brand new cars is a way of unduly influencing councillors as the governor is scheduled to read his annual accountability speech next month.
Currently 30 of the total of 83 councillors, already have official cars. The first councillors to receive the cars were the City Council speaker, chairmen of the 11 council's factions and senior members of the five council commissions.
The City Council speaker got two official cars: a Toyota Crown sedan -- the same as the car provided for the governor -- and a Toyota Land Cruiser jeep.
All the three city council's deputy speakers got Toyota Corona sedans, while KIA's Timor sedans were given to chairman of the council's factions and commissions.
Husein Djawas, head of the City Assets Office, confirmed that the new cars have been handed over to all the 53 councillors, who previously didn't have an official car, through the council's secretary about three days ago. Two other cars will be provided for the substitutes of two councillors who died respectively, several months ago and earlier this year.
Sutiyoso insisted the new cars had nothing to do with his forthcoming speech on accountability.
"My next accountability speech is relatively safe, because the new regulation No. 108/2000 has provided a common corridor (for the City Council and the city administration). So, there is no need for me to bribe them."
He revealed that the city administration had to purchase the new official cars as there was an indication that the price of the new cars might increase in the future.
"It was a matter of timing. If I purchased the new cars after my accountability speech, the public might also consider it as a bribe for any decision taken during the speech," said Sutiyoso.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization, the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), urged city councillors to return their brand new sedans and use the fund to aid poor people or to handle flooding problems.
"It's so appalling and tragic. Fifty five councillors get fancy cars, while money for the other hundreds of thousands of Jakartans is hard enough to find these days," said Azas Tigor Nainggolan of Fakta on Thursday.
Moral
Contacted separately, sociologist Sardjono Djatiman also expressed his concerns over the matter.
"The City Council seems to place more concern on their own interests rather than community problems. The purchase of cars shows no sense of sympathy with public suffering," he said.
Sardjono said both the city administration and City Council should have considered the impact of the purchase on the public, before they endorsed the plan.
"It's not about legal matters concerning realization of the city budget. It is about the moral attitude of our councillors," he added.
Tom Pasaribu of the Parliament Watch Indonesia (Parwi) echoed Sardjono's statement, "Once again, it is about moral attitude. I'm not sure that the new cars will necessarily improve councillors' duty, while the purchase involved a huge amount of the budget," said Tom.(04/07)