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