Officials and state facilities

It is easy to say that holding dual positions -- both in the government and a political party -- is not a big problem and that it also happens in some other countries. However, the important thing is that the person concerned always treats each role differently. But in reality this is not the case.

Vice President Hamzah Haz is one such example. The state provides one billion rupiah for each of his official trips to the regions. The problem arises when, during these trips, he also conducts activities related to the regional branches of his political party.

In cases like these it is clearly difficult to separate the two functions. Should we introduce some kind of regulation so that he has to reimburse part of the expenses?

Obviously not. He has conducted activities of a different nature or interest. It will be difficult to set up regulations. The only solution is to ensure that party related activities are only conducted on separate occasions and do not coincide with official visits funded by the state.

What we are trying to say is such dual roles should not be justified using any pretext.

-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta