Lawmakers accept puzzling 'payments'

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Several West Java legislative councillors have admitted to accepting Rp 10 million (US$1,200) each from the West Java Bank, which is owned by the provincial government.

The payments, which were disbursed less than two months before the councillors end their five-year terms in April this year, are suspected to be severance bonuses for the councillors.

Ruchiyat Noor, a councillor of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, acknowledged on Tuesday that he had accepted last Friday a cash payment of Rp 10 million.

"I received it from the council's finance department. Well, I was given money, so I simply accepted it," he said.

He claimed that when he signed the corresponding receipt for the money, he saw that about 20 percent of the total 100 legislators had already signed their receipts.

Ruchiyat did not question the source of the money, because it was given officially by the finance department and he felt he had the right to accept it.

Reza Nasrullah, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) councillor, said he had been asked to sign a receipt for the cash, but he and another councillor from the same party, Yudi Widiana Adia, refused to take the money. "It's not clear where the money comes from, nor its purpose," he said.

Reza recalled noticing that the receipt said "Fund for legislative members from the West Java Bank (Bank Jabar)", so thought it might have come from that bank.

Separately, West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, who is also a commissioner of the bank, denied allegations that the Rp 10 million was part of the councillors' severance bonuses.

He said he had no idea where the money came from and why the money was disbursed to the councillors, and promised to investigate the matter.

The provision of such "honorariums" to councillors is common in many regional governments that felt it right to give the payments to councillors, as they had contributed much to regional development during their five years in office.

However, several civic affairs non-governmental organizations and students have opposed the honorariums, saying that the councillors already receive good salaries. Moreover, they said many councillors had failed to represent the people's interests and instead were mere rubber-stamp legislators.