Police to pursue alleged graft in block grant fund for schools

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police said on Wednesday they would investigate the alleged misuse of a block grant by officials at SMP 232 junior high school in East Jakarta, even if the City Primary Education Agency and City Council agree to let the City Audit Agency handle the matter.

"We will continue our investigation into the case. We are still collecting evidence," the top detective at the city police's corruption division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Anton said the police investigation had "nothing to do with any internal decisions made by the (education) agency on settling the case".

The alleged misuse of the block grant came to light after city councillors discovered that about Rp 133 million of assistance funds meant for 798 poor students at SMP 232 in Pisangan, Pulogadung, East Jakarta, had been used to purchase furniture, a TV set, a photocopier and an air conditioner for the principal's office.

Police have questioned the school's principal, Tri Djumena, and vice principal, Sylviana Murni, as witnesses in the case.

The City Council and the City Primary Education Agency agreed on Tuesday to revise the guidelines on the use of block grants to allow schools to spend the money according to their needs.

Education agency officials and councillors from Commission E overseeing education, health and welfare continued to discuss the revision to the guidelines at a hotel in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

"Deliberations are still underway. We expect to come up with the final revision on Thursday," agency head Sylviana Murni told the Post.

Sylviana declined to provide any details of the planned revisions.

However, Commission E chairman Dani Anwar said the commission would require the agency to spell out any fund allocations to avoid any misinterpretations as a result of ambiguous clauses.

"The guidelines on the use of block grants must be specific to avoid misinterpretation," said the councillor from the Prosperous Justice Party faction.

He said his commission would prevent school officials from using block grants for non-education purposes.

"We need to limit the autonomy of schools," Dani said.

According to Law No. 20/2003 on national education, school officials and parent committees have the authority to draft a school's budget.

The problem is, Dani said, some schools make changes to the budget in the middle of the budget year, adding to the burden on students.

"We will advise the education agency to prevent school officials from changing their budgets because these changes sometimes mean students have to pay higher school fees," he said.

He also urged school officials to keep parents informed about the educational activities at their schools through regular letters.