Holiday mentality blamed for budget delay

Yongker Rumteh, The Jakarta Post, Manado, North Sulawesi

Three weeks into the new year, the North Sulawesi government is yet to draft its 2003 budget.

Worse still, the provincial administration is yet to receive guidelines for the budget from the local legislature.

The delay, which has forced a number of development projects to be put on hold, has been blamed on legislators failing to adjust to work after the holiday break.

The head of the North Sulawesi legislature commission for budget drafting, A.H.J. Purukan, told The Jakarta Post last week that the delay was triggered by the legislature's failure to discuss a bylaw on regional financial management, which serves as a guideline to drafting the budget.

"The legislature has failed to discuss the regional financial management bylaw as they had a hard time adjusting to work after a long break," said Purukan, referring to last year's Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays.

Purukan said local legislature members were partly to blame for their inability to endorse the guidelines on time.

"I don't blame the provincial government for not submitting the budget on time as the guidelines have not yet been discussed by the legislature."

Separately, the secretary of the legislature's budget committee, Elizabeth Winokan, agreed with Purukan that local legislature members were struggling to produce the guidelines for the budget's drafting.

Though legislative members were also debating draft bylaws on the management of coastal areas and the development of the Manado-Bitung bonded zone, the budget guidelines would be prioritized, she said.

The North Sulawesi government was also struggling to pay teachers' salaries for this month.

Purukan said the government had as much as Rp 79 billion of stand-by funds which could be disbursed anytime without approval from the legislature, including to pay the teachers.

The provincial government, attempting to ease public discontent, said last week that it would submit the budget draft immediately.

"The government plans to submit the budget on Jan. 18, and if it is not approved by the legislature we will use last year's budget guidelines," an official at the governor's office said.