Rp 6.2 billion already spent on council trips
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has allocated Rp 11.9 billion (US$1.08 million) in the 2001 city budget to finance domestic and foreign trips to be made by its 85 councillors, a reliable source said on Tuesday.
The source said some Rp 4 billion of the allocation had already been disbursed for the councillors' recent foreign trips, while Rp 2.2 billion has been disbursed to fund domestic travel.
Another source at the council said the fund was partly used to finance 18 councillors' trip to Mexico City, Mexico, last month.
He said the Mexico City trip mainly involved councillors from the administration's Commission E for social welfare affairs.
Commission E chairman Edy Suchro confirmed that some 18 councillors, including himself, recently visited Mexico City for a comparative study.
"We studied education and how the local administration helped people with social welfare problems," Edy of the National Mandate Party told the Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He denied that the trip was a compromise made in exchange for the council's acceptance of Governor Sutiyoso's accountability speech on April 30.
He said the trip and the fund had been arranged in the budget before acceptance of the governor's accountability speech.
"With or without the accountability speech, we still conduct comparative studies," Edy insisted.
Meanwhile, councillor Amarullah Asbah from the council's Commission C on budgetary and financial affairs said on Monday that 15 other councillors, mostly from his commission, planned to go to Los Angeles this weekend to study budgetary and finance- related issues, including entertainment taxes.
Meanwhile, councillors from Commission D for development affairs plan on traveling to Buenos Aires next month for another comparative study.
Commission D for development affairs and Commission A for administrative and legal affairs have yet to determine their foreign trips.
Last year, the city administration disbursed Rp 14 billion for councillors' domestic and foreign travel, including financing of the controversial trip to Australia, Japan and South Africa last October.
In addition to funds allocated from the 2000 budget, the trip, which also included city officials, was financed by city-owned PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol.
Three councillors reportedly received travel allowances of Rp 52 billion each despite having canceled their participation in the trip. The councillors are currently being investigated by the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.
In a related development, Sutiyoso will install 28 new officials on Friday to replace, among others, two senior officials who were allegedly involved in the controversial trip.
One source said the two senior officials to be replaced are City Development Agency chief Bambang Soengkono and City Planning Agency chief Ahmaddin Ahmad.
The source said Bambang would be replaced by the current City Housing Agency chief Irsal Djamal while Ahmaddin's successor is not yet known.
The other officials to be replaced include City Land Traffic Control Agency (DLLAJ) head Buyung Atang, City Fire Agency chief Soeharso, City Public Order Office chief Hadi Utomo and City Parking Agency (BP Parkir) chief Yani Mulyadi.
Buyung will be replaced by the current secretary of the Central Jakarta mayoralty, Rustam Effendy, while Soeharso will be replaced by his deputy, Yoyon Ardisona.
West Jakarta secretary Firman Hutajulu will replace Hadi Utomo and BP Parkir deputy chief Sukry Bey will head the parking agency.
The city's assistant for administrative affairs Zainal Arifin, city assistant for development affairs Ongky Sukasah and city assistant for official supervision Soemarto will also be replaced, the source said. (jun)