Take the shirt of your back: Councillors to get Rp 5m for tailors
Take the shirt of your back: Councillors to get Rp 5m for tailors
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung
Though the new West Java legislative council has not yet been
installed, the provincial administration has allocated Rp 500
million (US$55,555) for official uniforms for its 100 members.
The money has been earmarked in West Java's 2004 budget
drafted by the current council that will end its five-year term
later this month, its spokesman Edi S. Holil said on Friday.
The new legislature members, elected in the April 5 elections,
are scheduled to be inaugurated early in August.
"There is a total amount of Rp 1 billion allocated for
official uniforms for the members of both the old and new
councils," Edi said in Bandung, West Java.
He said each councillor would get Rp 5 million for three sets
of official uniforms.
Edi claimed the surprisingly large allocation was not
excessive, even though it is just for the councillors' official
attire, despite the fact that many people find it hard to keep
the shirts on their backs amid the economic crisis.
"It's not a luxury, and is within the normal standards," he
simply said.
Earlier, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno had rebuked the
West Java council for allocating too much money from the 2004
budget for non-urgent activities, including the planned spending
on official uniforms.
He suggested that allocations worth more than Rp 20 billion
for "unimportant" matters be canceled and diverted to efforts to
improve public welfare.
The minister issued Letter No. 903/1253/SJ dated May 26, 2004,
detailing other "unimportant" allocations that needed review,
including those for a medical scheme worth Rp 1.5 billion, an
insurance program worth 1.88 billion and official travel budgeted
at more than Rp 7 billion.
Hari said that councillors had the right to be outfitted with
official uniforms twice in five years, but added that they needed
to maintain decorum and respect the public's sense of justice.
The new West Java council members were told to have their
measurements taken on Thursday or Friday by two tailors hired by
the legislature's secretariat.
The allocation for the official uniforms has irked local
employees who work at the council under various types of
contract, including security guards.
One security guard, who declined to be identified, said that
it would take him 10 months to earn Rp 5 million.