Officials fear conflict of interest in City budget debate

Officials fear conflict of interest in City budget debate

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City officials complained on Monday over the interference of
city councillors in their drafting of next year's city budget and
alleged that they might be tempted to seek an advantage from the
planned projects.

A senior official, requesting anonymity, said he objected to
the councillors' involvement in the technical matters, saying
that they should concentrate more on budget monitoring and
appropriate allocation.

"We run into difficulties with the debates on upcoming
projects because the councillors are far too involved in the
planning and design from the beginning," the official said.

He alleged that there was an indication that certain
councillors were looking to be perhaps unethically involved in
various projects.

Councilman Dani Anwar of the Justice Party claimed that the
involvement of the councillors in planning the budget was in fact
aimed at upholding transparency.

"We continue to scrutinize the planning of the budget. Even
with regard to projects of the 2003 city budget, which the
administration will have to justify in January next year," Dani,
who is secretary of the council's commission B for economic
affairs, stated.

He denied the accusation that the councillors could take
advantage of such a situation by interfering with details of the
planned projects.

Councillor Ugiek Soegihardjo of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle supported Dani's statement, saying that the
council would not rubber stamp planned projects as happened in
past years.

The city administration is scheduled to submit the 2002 City
Budget at the end of this month, while the approval would be made
in December.

It is estimated that next year's budget would be about Rp 8.3
trillion, compared to this year's Rp 8.1 trillion, according to
City Financial Assistant Makmun Amin.

Approximately 20 percent of the 2001 City Budget remained
unused, he added.

Makmun said the councillors should be involved in the planning
of the budget from the beginning, but in a limited role.

"But their involvement must be to make decisions on policy
matters, not technical matters. It's our duty," Makmun said.

Over the past month, several agencies have been summoned by
the council to justify their planned budgets for next year.

On Monday, executives of the city-owned Ragunan Zoo met the
council's commission D in a hearing to explain the zoo's budget.

The commission threatened to cut the zoo's planned projects
worth Rp 55 billion if the zoo's executives could not clearly
account for its 2001 budget.

"We will approve only a quarter of their budget or about Rp 13
billion if the executives are unable to justify the use of this
year's budget," councillor Dani said.

He gave an examples of the zoo's five different projects, each
worth Rp 500 million, such as the construction of a white tiger's
cage and the maintenance of a dam.

Zoo Director Ismianto could not adequately relate all the
details on the use of the funding allocations because the zoo's
financial official failed to attend the hearing.