Rp 1 billion lunch questioned

Rp 1 billion lunch questioned

It is not to find fault with the government that we spotlight
the matter of employees of the State Secretariat eating lunch on
the tab of the presidential aid fund. This issue may seem trivial
in terms of how the fund is allocated.

The problem, however, becomes serious when it is considered
that the fund was appropriated for such a petty need: employees'
lunch. It becomes even graver as the amount spent on the meals
reached over Rp 1 billion over seven months, from September 2001
to April 2002.

How many civil servants had lunch in that period, and why were
their meals paid for by the fund are simple questions that must
be answered. More complete, detailed and transparent data is thus
required.

One has no idea if State Secretary Bambang Kesowo was racing
against the deadline when delivering his report on the fund to
the House of Representatives. There might have been other, more
specific, events included in the calculations he made for these
lunches.

For instance, maybe he also included the banquets that were
held to welcome President Megawati Soekarnoputri's state guests
at various state palaces -- in view of the inclusion of employees
of regional palaces in the "provisional details" of the lunches
financed with this fund.

Such questions are understandable because when the New Order
was in power, the presidential aid fund was used to purchase
cattle, basic necessities for disaster victims and to assist
mosques. It had nothing to do with lunches, dinners or any other
meals.

--Koran Tempo, Jakarta