Supreme Court seeks more funds

JAKARTA: The Supreme Court is seeking a much higher amount of funds from the government to help finance various programs, according to Chief Justice Bagir Manan.

Bagir said on Friday that the Rp 1.4 trillion (US$136.58 million) budget allocation by the government in the 2006 state budget draft unveiled last month was far from sufficient.

He said that the Supreme Court would need at least Rp 5.5 trillion next year.

He explained that this year, the government allocated some Rp 1.25 trillion for the Supreme Court, of which, 80 percent goes for routine expenses such as salaries.

Bagir said that a larger budget allocation was necessary, mostly because the court had to spend money on refurbishing damaged court buildings across the country. There are some 700 courts under the supervision of the Supreme Court. -- detikcom