Past political compromises bring misery to councillors

Past political compromises bring misery to councillors

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The mounting problems plaguing members of the Yogyakarta
provincial legislative council, including alleged graft, are the
price of political compromises they made in the past, a top
councillor says.

"This is the consequence of deals we made in the past to share
power and position among ourselves. What we failed to foresee was
that we would pay dearly for them," deputy speaker Nur Ahmad
Affandi said.

He was referring to the countless problems beleaguering the
provincial legislature, which climaxed in a letter from the
Ministry of Home Affairs Inspectorate General to the Yogyakarta
governor last month that questioned the Rp 6 billion (US$714,000)
that had been allocated as allowance for Yogyakarta legislators.

In the letter, the inspectorate general said the misuse of the
fund violated Government Regulation No. 110/2000 on financial
affairs of regional legislature, as the fund was not part of the
provincial budget.

Eventually, the governor decided to stop paying the
allowances, which amounted to two-thirds of the councillors'
monthly net salaries. Each councillor took home Rp 6.2 million.

Later, the provincial prosecutors' office named six of the
councillors as suspects for allegedly misusing the funds, even
though all 45 legislature members had received allowances.

Political moves followed, with a group of councillors from
various factions filing a motion of no confidence against the
legislative speaker and his five deputies on the ground that they
were incompetent. The councillors recently changed their demand
and asked the legislative leaders to improve their performance.

"As one of the council leaders, I myself feel there has been a
lack of coordination and an unclear division of labor within the
legislature, which has resulted in our poor performance," Achmad
said.

Unlike other provinces, leaders of the Yogyakarta legislature
do not hold ex-officio positions heading the council's three
committees on program and planning, internal affairs and
budgetary affairs.

Achmad said the situation had contributed to the sub-standard
performance of the legislature, and that the problems facing the
legislature mostly dealt with the council's work mechanism and
draft bylaws deliberated in the three committees.

He blamed the unfavorable working system on political deals
among the factions to distribute power and posts in order to
maintain equity.

Therefore, he suggested that the structure of the legislature
be revamped to put an end to a disruption in its working
mechanism.

"In this case, we have to amend the internal ruling," said
Achmad, adding that it would not be difficult to realize if all
factions had the good will to do so.