The history of education budget controversy

The issue of the amount of money for the education budget began in August 2002 when the People's Consultative's Assembly convened for its fourth amendment to the 1945 Constitution.

After the completion of that amendment, the 1945 Constitution, through the fourth paragraph of Article 31, obliges both the central and local governments to allocate at least 20 percent of their budgets for education.

Following the amendment, the government then under president Megawati Soekarnoputri and the House of Representatives passed the national education law, Law No. 20/2003, to comply with the Constitution.

The first paragraph of Article 49 of the law stipulates that education funding, excluding that for teacher salaries and official training, is set at at least 20 percent of the budgets of both the central and local governments.

The problem, however, lies with the elucidation of the article, which says: "The fulfillment of the education funding could be pursued in stages."

This one-sentence caveat was created apparently as a cushion for the government to produce a more realistic budget at the time, when public finance was still in disarray amid lingering multi-dimensional crises in the country.

With this cushion, Megawati the produced 2004 budget that allotted only 6.5 percent of the total central government spending to education; through the ministries of education and religious affairs.

When Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power in October 2004, his government -- with the consent of the House of Representatives -- put a timetable to meet its constitutional obligation of spending 20 percent of the budget for education.

Based on the timetable, the government increased education spending to Rp 33 trillion (US$3.3 billion) or 8.4 percent of the budget in 2005. For next year, the government plans to allocate about 40 trillion, or 11 percent of the central government's total spending of Rp 375 trillion.

The government hopes to increase the portion of the education spending to 14.7 percent in 2007, 17.5 percent in 2008 and 20.1 percent in 2009.

For those who have concerns about improving human resources in this country, the target of 2009 to meet the constitutional mandate is way too far off.

Nine concerned citizens, mostly teachers from Banyuwangi, East Java, acting on their own, filed a case with the Constitutional Court. They demanded the court cancel the first and second paragraphs of Article 17 and the elucidation of Article 49.

In its decision, the court maintained the first and second paragraph of Article 17 -- mainly concerns with the definition of basic education -- but canceled the wording in Article 49.

With the cancellation, the government and the House are now legally obliged to set aside at least 20 percent of the budget for education starting in fiscal year 2006, which begins of Jan. 1.

However, reality could be different, and the government and the House could possibly just ignore the verdict and go on with business as usual. -- JP/Riyadi Suparno