Sutiyoso cuts his Rp 105m dress quota

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso yesterday abruptly eliminated his Rp 105 million (US$7,500) official dress allowance from the city administration's 1998/1999 fiscal year budget.

Speaking to reporters, the governor said the decision was made in line with the city's retrenchment policy.

In its Monday edition, Kompas daily reported that city councilors had urged the administration to cut funds allocated for the governor to help cope with the ongoing economic crisis.

The story's strap under the headline read: Governor's clothes Rp 105 million per year.

Sutiyoso said he also had ordered the city secretary to trim other expenses allocated for his position, including for the governor's household set at Rp 8.2 billion for this fiscal year.

"But it may be difficult to just cut it to zero like I did to my clothes budget," he said yesterday.

Sutiyoso explained that the Rp 105 million budget for his official clothes was set to purchase, among other outfits, a governor's uniform, two city administration uniforms, two civil security uniforms and state employee uniforms.

He said from now on he would use his personal funds if he needed to buy new official clothes.

"I've already bought two coats. That should be enough for any official ceremonies.

"Besides, I can still use the clothes I had before I was appointed governor."

Clothes budget

Sutiyoso is not the only governor in the country who has been criticized for his huge clothes budget, particularly since many people are finding it difficult to buy rice as the crisis continues to grip the country.

Early this month, West Java Governor Nuriana was also asked to trim his Rp 100 million annual budget for official apparel and his Rp 275 million budget for the maintenance of his official cars.

Sutiyoso called on his subordinates yesterday to follow in his footsteps by reducing their annual spending for official clothes as well.

Like in the country's other provinces, Jakarta's 70,000 city employees have routinely received uniforms under the available budget.

The cost of their uniforms depends on their job position.

"I believe that other city employees (his subordinates) will also do the same thing, though their decisions should not be as extreme as mine," Sutiyoso said.

He said the city's retrenchment policy affected all sectors in its budget, including funds for official visits and maintenance costs for official residences.

Approval

The governor's decision to eliminate his official clothes allowance was hailed by the head of the City Council's Commission C for financial affairs, Amarullah Asbah.

"It's a very good thing to help save the city's budget, which is already suffering," he said.

The city's twice-revised budget is only sufficient to cover routine expenses, he said.

The budget was at first set at Rp 3.2 trillion, consisting of Rp 1.3 trillion for routine expenses and Rp 1.9 trillion for development funds.

It was then revised to Rp 2.7 trillion due to smaller revenue.

The budget was revised a second time as revenue projections were lowered again. This fiscal year's revenue is estimated at Rp 1.1 trillion compared to last year's Rp 1.9 trillion.

"Due to the tiny income, the city decided to zero out its development fund and cut routine expenses to Rp 1.4 trillion," Amarullah explained.

Out of the Rp 1.4 trillion budget, some Rp 273 billion is allocated to cover debts and escalated project costs.

"So now, there's only about Rp 1.3 trillion left in the budget to cover routine expenses," he said.

Amarullah, therefore, reminded the administration to use its available funds carefully because city revenue may not even meet current projections.

He also demanded that administration officials be honest and disciplined in spending the limited funds.

As of the first semester of the current fiscal year, the city has only booked 11.3 percent of its estimated tax revenue and 8 percent from levies, he said.

Amarullah also called the administration to cut certain expenditures, such as subsidies to government institutions, maintenance costs for parking facilities and the publication of Cinta Ibukota (Love the Capital), the administration's weekly gazette. (cst)