Governor denies bribing councillors on budget speech

Governor denies bribing councillors on budget speech

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), a non-
governmental organization, Azas Tigor Nainggolan revealed on
Monday that some councillors had turned down money offered by
Governor Sutiyoso to accept his 2001 city budget speech.

Declining to mention the councillors' names, Tigor said each
councillor would have received Rp 35 million (US$3,500) if they
accepted Sutiyoso's speech scheduled for March 27.

But his statement was refuted by the governor, although he
reportedly has allocated Rp 3 billion for the councillors.

"It's slander but I won't sue the people who have accused me
of giving money to the councillors," he told reporters at City
Hall. "Besides, the budget speech is just a regular event."

Sutiyoso said should his budget speech be rejected by the
council, it would still take more time to oust him from his post.
An independent team -- comprising officials of the Ministry of
Home Affairs, observers and academicians -- will be set up by the
government to evaluate any rejection of the speech.

"There's nothing to worry about. I can only hope that the
council will objectively evaluate my budget speech," he said
optimistically.

The governor's 2000 budget speech was rejected by the council
but was later accepted after Sutiyoso revised it within a month.

Some NGOs criticized the council for accepting last year's
budget speech, especially after the administration had provided
official sedans for councillors.

Despite denying he had bribed any councillors, Sutiyoso
admitted that the administration had allocated additional fees
for the councillors. The money has been taken from the target
surplus of the city vehicle tax revenue.

"The city bylaw states that giving the money is legal," he
said.

The bylaw states that members of the city police, the city
military command and the city council will receive 1 percent of
the tax revenue surplus.

"They are considered to play vital roles in increasing city
revenue. Therefore, they deserve to receive the incentive (from
the revenue)," city spokesman Muhayat confirmed.

The city revenue from the vehicle tax alone reached about Rp 5
trillion last year.

Following the accusation of bribery, some councillors said
they had not been offered money from Sutiyoso's people.

"Not yet. I haven't received any offer," said councillor
Mukhayar R.M. of the Justice Party after a plenary session at the
council.

He admitted that he had returned money received last year
since the receipt was signed by a city official instead of
council chairman Edy Waluyo and secretary Moerdiman.

Councillor Lambertus Gaina Dara of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle also said he had not been offered any money.

While councillor Ahmad Heryawan of the Justice Party admitted
that each of the 85 city councillors always received Rp 7 million
per year from the tax revenue surplus.

"The money is given gradually every four months," he said.

Despite all the suspicion of bribery, councillors have pledged
that they would reject Sutiyoso's speech if they found strong
evidence of irregularities in the budget report.

They said several programs in the budget, particularly on the
garbage management and public order operations, would be firmly
questioned.