President's lifestyle

President's lifestyle

Garuda, Indonesia's flag carrier had been asked to courier
US$300,000 to the presidential secretary when the President and
his entourage were in Saudi Arabia.

It took me a moment to figure out how much money the above
amount of U.S. dollars would be in rupiah. Then I grabbed a
calculator to count that it equates to some Rp 3 billion at the
current exchange rate. Perhaps the amount, which was intended to
cover a shortage of funds for that trip was too little compared
to the Rp 35 billion ($2 million) involved in the Bulog and
Brunei scams. Was the money drawn from the state budget (which is
public money)? How much would the President's recent trip cost in
total for the entire group consisting of officials, their
spouses, journalists, friends and relatives?

Would not the money be worth spending on the victims of
several natural disasters (floods, landslides, earthquakes) or
for the Sampit refugees or for the renovation of public schools?

With the rupiah at its current low, it may be wise for the
President to reconsider the frequency of his future overseas
trips, the number of people accompanying him, the use of regular
commercial planes. It really is not the time to be a big spender
particularly when our country is in crisis.

Y. LUCAS

Jakarta