Lampung's draft budget under fire

Lampung's draft budget under fire

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

Activists and the Lampung provincial legislative council clashed
on Wednesday after the activists said the province's 2002 draft
budget allocated more for the bureaucracy that it did for the
poor.

The discussion turned into serious bickering when a number of
activists lambasted the council, accusing a number of legislators
of colluding with Governor Oemarsono to give a bigger portion of
the budget to the bureaucracy and local officials.

Legislative council deputy chairman Mochtar Hasan stormed out
of the meeting after 300 students and activists representing 36
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) condemned both the
provincial administration and the legislative council.

The students and activists were received by a number of
legislators, including Mochtar Hasan, after they staged a
demonstration at the legislative compound, demanding major
changes to the draft budget.

The demonstrators threatened to occupy the legislative
building unless their demands were met.

"Both the local administration and the legislative council
have no sense of crisis. The governor has proposed to allocate 70
percent of more than Rp 450 billion of the draft budget to
finance the bureaucracy and local officials while some of the
people have turned to tiwul (a cassava-based food) instead of
rice because of the soaring prices of basic commodities," Imam, a
student demonstrator, said.

Rice prices have risen to Rp 3,700 per kilogram from Rp 1,500.

Ahmad Julden Erwin, spokesman for the NGOs, questioned the
provincial administration's development policy as it had only
allocated 30 percent of the budget to development programs.

Erwin also criticized the legislators' high take-home pay,
saying it was not feasible to receive such high amounts when the
legislature did not function optimally.

"Of course, a legislator's gross salary is only Rp 4 million
per month but, with numerous allowances, he or she will receive a
total of Rp 24 million per month," he said.

Idhan Djanuawardana, coordinator of the Center for Development
Studies, called on the legislature to cut its budget, allowances
and facilities provided for the governor.

"The governor has received too many allowances and facilities
that reflects a life-style which is too far above local people's
living conditions," he said.

The demonstrators said they would keep returning to the
legislature compound until the legislative council made changes
to the budget.

Abdul Hakim, Muzakir Noor, both of the Crescent Star Party
faction, and Raden Muhammad Ismail of the Indonesian democratic
Party of Struggle pledged to listen to the demonstrators' demands
during the deliberation of the draft budget.