Irregularities highlighted in Jakarta's 2002 council budget

Irregularities highlighted in Jakarta's 2002 council budget

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

JAKARTA: Members of the public have sharply criticized the
city administration for this year's city budget proposal, saying
that it is full of irregularities and prone to corruption.

Wasilah Sutrisno, a councillor from Commission E of Social
Welfare, said that many fund allocations in the budget draft were
not made in the public interest.

"Some allocations for social welfare were not really aimed at
improving people's welfare, but they will be provided to those
who have no right" to the benefits, she told The Jakarta Post,
referring to budget officials.

According to Wasilah, the administration proposed more than Rp
1 trillion for social improvements, including education and
public welfare.

The administration's proposed job training programs, which
seek vaguely to "improve public skill," she said, will require
billions of rupiah, for example.

"What public? They did not stipulate it clearly," she said;
her suspicions, she added, is that it might lead to manipulation.

On Monday, Governor Sutiyoso presented this year's city budget
proposal at City Council, announcing that the administration had
planned to increase the budget by nearly 10 percent, from Rp 8.1
trillion last year to Rp 8.9 trillion this year.

Some Rp 5.61 trillion, meanwhile, will be allocated for
routine expenditures, while the remaining Rp 3.29 trillion would
go towards development affairs.

However, Azas Tigor Nainggolan, leader of the Jakarta
Residents Forum, was skeptical, saying the city budget plan was
bizarre, and open to corruption.

"The Governor said that the administration allocated more
funds for public service this year, but it was not true," he
said, adding that the administrators have tricked the taxpayers
by manipulating their money.

The administration had allocated Rp 520.9 billion for
education. However, that fund would not be used for education
programs alone -- it must also be disbursed for other needs, such
as arts and cultural matters, Tigor said.

He also questioned the proposed budget fund, which would be
used for renovating historical buildings such as the Cathedral
building in Central Jakarta, which requires some Rp 64 billion.

"The funny thing is, the church administrator told me that
they used their own fund for the renovation," Tigor told the
Post.

Tigor added cynically that the councillors would approve the
what he called a bizarre budget so long as the administration
would allocate more funds for them.

The budget fund proposed by the city administration for the
City Council amounted to more than Rp 102 billion this year, as
compared with Rp 76 billion last year.

In addition, the councillors will receive a health allowance
of Rp 6 billion, consisting of Rp 4.3 billion for life insurance
and Rp 1.5 billion for their doctor's services.