Governor defends purchase of cars for councillors

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)