Observers fear administration is corrupt
Observers fear administration is corrupt
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Observers have warned of inefficiency in the second semester of
this year's budgetary term because agencies are being encouraged
to make up for their meager spending in the first semester.
The chairman of the Indonesian Forum for Budgetary
Transparency, Laode Ida, said agency officials might fail to heed
proper procedures in the rush to spend their budgets before the
end of the budget year.
"With a very limited time, the officials are allowed not to
tender their projects, and instead directly appoint partners,"
Laode told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He was referring to government regulation No. 18/2000, which
allows agencies to appoint companies directly for projects in
certain circumstances, including time limitations.
The City Council approved on Monday an increase of Rp 576.942
billion in the budget, which not totals Rp 11.562 trillion
(US$1.3 billion). The increase was approved even though agencies
spent less than 25 percent of the total budget in the first
semester.
Observers warned of the danger of corruption in projects where
companies are appointed directly by administration officials.
Laode also bemoaned the fact that the public and non-
governmental organizations were not given access to monitor the
use of taxpayer money.
He said the only way to monitor the use of taxpayer money was
for the city administration to publish a list of projects to be
tendered.
"But I am pessimistic officials will give the public access to
these projects," he said.
The public was denied access from the start of the whole
process, with the budget being deliberated in closed-door
meetings between officials and councillors.
Laode said he was disappointed the council refused to receive
input from the public in deliberating the budget.
Mohamad Suhud of the International NGO Forum for Indonesian
Development also warned of inefficiency as officials rush to
spend the money left over from the first semester.
"Agencies might spend large amounts of money because the
officials do not want to return money to the city treasury,"
Suhud said.
He also expressed concern this would spur administration
officials to hand out projects without a tender.
"I think that this situation has the potential to be used by
officials to engage in KKN," Suhud said, using the acronym for
corruption, collusion and nepotism.
In the last budget year, many projects were completed without
an open tender, while the tenders for other projects were
participated in by companies that did not exist. None of these
procedural transgressions earned sanctions.