Sudomo, Bokha condemn misuse of insurance funds

Sudomo, Bokha condemn misuse of insurance funds

JAKARTA (JP): A senior official and a unionist blasted
Thursday the alleged misuse of workers' insurance money to grease
the wheels of the House of Representatives into passing the
controversial manpower bill.

Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Board Sudomo, who is also the
former manpower minister, called the Rp 3.1 billion (US$2.15
million) reallocation of state-owned workers' insurance company
PT Jamsostek funds for legislators deliberating the bill
"unlawful".

He said the use of the funds was not authorized by the
minister of finance. The finance minister represents the
government as the owner of the company, and the outflow of funds
needs his approval, he said.

Wilhelmus Bokha, the chairman of the Federation of the All
Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI), also called the alleged misuse
of funds a violation of "moral and legal norms".

The Jakarta Provincial Prosecutors' office had questioned
eight people from the Ministry of Manpower, Jamsostek, the House
of Representatives and a hotel in Jakarta after the company's
president Abdillah Nusi admitted the money had been used to
finance the deliberation of the bill in a hotel between July and
September this year.

The prosecutors' office spokesman, Agus Sutoto, said the
investigators had collected enough "evidence for the case" and
would not question the eight again, but did not rule out the
possibility of questioning other people.

Bhoka said the use of Jamsostek's funds, which he also called
unlawful, occurred because the insurance company had no
appropriate supervision system.

"PT Jamsostek failed to include representatives from FSPSI and
the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) ... (in the
reallocation of the funds)," he said.

He called on the Development Finance Comptroller and the
Attorney General's Office to investigate the case thoroughly.

The 1992/1997 House of Representatives passed the bill on
Sept. 11. The manpower law will become effective on Oct. 1 next
year.

Sudomo said the Minister of Finance could also reprimand PT
Jamsostek's president if it was proven that the money was
misused.

The retired admiral recalled a situation in the late 1980s,
when then minister of finance Radius Prawiro rejected his request
to invest some of PT Astek's (the first state-owned insurance
company before it was renamed PT Jamsostek) money in the Jakarta
Stock Exchange.

"Pak Radius told me the nominal values in the JSX were always
fluctuating," he said.

Sudomo, the 1983/1988 manpower minister, said Jamsostek's
money could only be used for activities to improve the workers'
welfare.

"It can only be used for the workers' medical allowance and
life insurance, or for the workers' training purposes," he said.

He rejected Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief's earlier
statement that the use of the money for the bill deliberation
would indirectly benefit workers in the future.

"Jamsostek's money should directly reach the workers' hands,"
he said.

Sudomo dismissed speculation that the disclosure of
Jamsostek's money was politically motivated.

"It has nothing to do with Pak Latief's future career in the
cabinet," he said. "It's too premature to say as the new
president and the cabinet lineup are yet to be elected."

He disagreed with idea of asking Latief to resign.

"It's not common practice here to have an official resign from
his or her post," he said. (imn/aan/10)