Governor rejects police's proposal for more funds

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso rejected on Wednesday the possibility of granting more money to the city police for additional operational expenditures.

While insisting that the police's financing is not the responsibility of the city administration, Sutiyoso said that allocating additional funds to the city police force would be inappropriate.

"The responsibility of financing the city police's operational expenditures is in the National Police's hands, not ours.

"We, the city administration, only act as a contributor," he told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony at the Jakarta Fair grounds in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, celebrating the establishment of the Jakarta contingent for the 15th National Games (PON) in Surabaya next month.

Sutiyoso was commenting on Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi's request to the city councillors on Tuesday to help persuade the city administration to increase its financial assistance to the city police.

The governor said that the city administration would only bear the responsibility of subsidizing the city police's activities and operations once regional autonomy was put into effect some time next year.

Meanwhile, he said, the minimum financial support the police now received from the city administration should not make them "lower" the quality of their public services.

"Don't make it (the minimum budget) an excuse for not doing a good job," he said.

In a hearing on city security programs at the City Council on Tuesday, Nurfaizi asked for an increase in the city administration's financial assistance. The current budget of Rp 900 million (US$105,882) was apparently not enough.

"We contribute some Rp 6 billion a day to the city administration via driver's licenses, vehicle taxes and other revenues. So, why do we receive only Rp 900 million, a small percentage of our contribution a year?" he asked city councillors.

Without mentioning on how much the police should get, Nurfaizi said the current budget would not be enough to finance the operational expenditures for 18,000 police officers in Greater Jakarta areas.

Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist from the University of Indonesia (UI), shared Sutiyoso's statement, saying that the police chief's request was irrelevant.

"It is their (the police's) obligation to provide services to the public. City police should be grateful with the city administration, which has regularly contributed money for police operational expenditures, especially because they are not obliged to do so," Meliala said in a telephone interview with The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"Police can complain later once regional autonomy has been established if the city administration does not provide proper financial assistance for police expenditures," he said.

He also stated that the police could later question the city administration about its high expectations regarding police performance in return for the contributions.

"But to ask for an increased budget while it is currently under the supervision of the National Police is really inappropriate," he said. (09)