Privileges and benefits await president and vice president

JAKARTA (JP): When the country's new president is elected on Wednesday and the vice president a day later, what privileges and facilities await the country's top power holders?

Under the 1993 decree of the finance ministry's Directorate General for Budgetary Affairs, the monthly salaries of the president and vice president are Rp 15 million (US$1,875) and Rp 10 million respectively.

Their salaries are not everything. Law No. 7 issued in 1978 stipulates that the state is obliged to cover all costs related to the activities of president and vice president, including household expenses and their families' medical outlays.

After the president and vice president retire, they are entitled to monthly pensions equivalent to their basic salary in office.

They will also receive several benefits, including appropriate housing, a car and chauffeur, security guards, health allowance and a waiver for telephone, water and electricity bills.

President B.J. Habibie offered Rp 26.5 billion to his predecessor Soeharto as a housing reimbursement three months after the latter's resignation in May. Habibie also paid Rp 19 billion to then vice president, retired Army general Try Sutrisno, whom he replaced in March last year.

Widows of former heads of state and vice presidents are entitled to receive 50 percent of their spouses' pensions.

The first lady has the right to receive the country's highest honor of the Bintang Republik Indonesia medal. Habibie presented the medal to his wife, Hasri Ainun Besari, only three months after becoming president while Soeharto awarded a similar medal to his wife, the late Tien Soeharto, five years after he became the country's leader man in 1968.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, chief of the presidential household Kemal Munawar said his nearly 1,000-strong personnel was ready to serve the president and first family as well as the vice president.

Unlike Soeharto who worked at the Bina Graha presidential office, Habibie prefers to work daily at Merdeka Palace and uses Bina Graha only for Cabinet meetings.

Both Habibie and Soeharto used the State Palace only to host state banquets for visiting foreign leaders or when receiving many guests. The palace is undergoing major refurbishment.

There are also presidential palaces to be used as retreats in Bogor and Cipanas in West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, and Tampaksiring, Bali, and the vacation home Pesanggerahan Tenjoresmi in the Pelabuhan Ratu resort in West Java.

Like Soeharto, Habibie, for privacy reasons, refused to stay at the official Merdeka Palace residence. When he was vice president, Habibie also did not live in his official residence at Jl. Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta. He chose instead his private residence in Patra Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Only Sukarno, the country's first president, lived at the Merdeka Palace during his tenure. His eldest daughter, presidential hopeful Megawati Soekarnoputri, spent most of her childhood and youth in the palace.

"Ibu Mega used to play with the children of palace gardeners and servants here," said Musli, a State Palace employee who prepared Megawati's breakfast every morning.

The vice president works at Merdeka Selatan Palace, adjacent to the U.S. Embassy in Jl. Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta.

Security and safety of the president and vice president is overseen by the 1,600-strong Presidential Security Guard (Paspampres). The guards provide round-the-clock protection to the president and vice president and their families.

Paspampres consists of selected personnel from a number of units, including the military police, the Army's Special Force, the Marines and the Army's Strategic Reserves Command.

The elite command is divided into three groups. The 540-strong Group A is assigned to guard the first family but it was dissolved in August following Soeharto's resignation.

Group B, which was initially assigned to safeguard Habibie while he was vice president from March to May last year, has continued its tasks since he acceded to the presidency in May. The group was renamed Group A.

"Group B will be available again as soon as the country will have a new vice president," Paspampres Commander Maj. Gen. Suwandi said recently.

Group C is designed to protect visiting foreign leaders and dignitaries.

Four colonels are provided to assist the daily tasks of the president, who also automatically becomes the supreme commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI). The four are from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Police.

The head of state is exempted from traffic regulations and authorities close an airport one hour prior to the president's departure or arrival. (prb)