Questionable proposals for 2003 budget
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Administration officials are reportedly proposing several "unclear" proposals which are likely aimed to take advantage of the planned Rp 500 billion (US$58 million) increase in revenues of the 2003 city budget.
Commission B secretary Dani Anwar questioned a proposal of additional fund of Rp 3 billion for the City Parking Management Body (BP Parkir) in the budget which was approved early this year although the commission B did not agree with the allocation.
Dani explained that the council could only approve Rp 17 billion for BP Parkir, but in the final draft, the figure was apparently changed to Rp 20 billion.
Besides the 3 billion additional fund, the parking body also proposed an additional Rp 230 million for employees' expenditures, he said.
Another councillor Syarief Zulkarnaen revealed another unclear proposal of Rp 162 million more from the City Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Agency.
"If the official most responsible for such decisions do not propose the budget increase, who proposes it?" wondered Syarief, who is chairman of the commission B.
He questioned the unclear proposals and brought up an issue form the 2000 budget when there was a difference in the figures approved for BP Parkir.
Elaborating on that, he explained that in 2000, the city financial bureau disbursed Rp 10.39 billion for BP Parkir, but BP Parkir only received Rp 9.8 billion.
"Where did the rest of it, over Rp 500 million, go?" he asked pointedly.
Meanwhile, BP Parkir spokesperson Yani Mulyadi said he knew nothing about the extra Rp 230 million that appeared in the draft budget revision allocated for employees' expenditures.
On the Rp 3 billion addition, Yani claimed that it had earlier been approved by the City Planning Agency (Bapeda).
Head of Bapeda Rusdi Yusuf, who had the last look at the draft budget before it was discussed with the council, denied that there were any irregularities in it.
But Rusdi put forth a bizarre argument to back up his story, saying that not all officials realized how the money was spent in their respective agencies, particularly if it was in connection with employee welfare.
"The financial bureau may add the fund needed by the agency," said Rusdi.
The officials and councillors are currently discussing the revised city budget. The budget will be increased from Rp 11.06 trillion to Rp 11.56 trillion due to a rise in revenues.
Besides the unclear proposals from the officials, the councillors also proposed such controversial items as an additional clothing allowance of Rp 434 million and Rp 9.6 billion for overseas trips.
If they received no public criticism, they will agree with each other and make "a trade off" for their respective proposals.