W. Java councillors drop bid for cars

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Controversy over the proposed new cars for the West Java Legislative Council's leaders went on, with council speaker AM Ruslan saying on Tuesday he had called off the proposal.

Ruslan said he had submitted a letter to postpone the purchase of the new cars to Governor Danny Setiawan early this month. But Danny said on Tuesday the administration had not received any such letter from the council.

"(If the proposal is to be postponed) it should be directly submitted to the budget committee which oversees the amended 2005 budget, not to me," he said.

Ruslan claimed the council leaders requested new official cars since their current cars were old while the administration's executives drove new models. He cited that Deputy Governor Nu'man Abdul Hakim has a Camry sedan for an official car while Ruslan drives a 2000 Toyota Crown.

The council speaker reportedly had requested a Toyota Camry 3.0 while his three deputies asked for Toyota Camry 2.4s. The proposal had been included in the amended 2005 West Java provincial budget.

Ruslan denied reports that only the council leaders had requested new cars, saying that all chairmen of the council's five commissions had made a similar proposal.

A source from the council's budget committee cited that Rp 4.4 billion had been proposed in the budget to replace official cars of the council leaders and commission chairmen.

Ruslan said he decided to withdraw the proposal after consulting the budget committee. The proposal, he said, will be resubmitted when the budget allows it.

Council deputy chairman Rudy Harsa Tanaya claimed that he was against the plan from the start.

"After looking at the people's economic situation, we should not request for new cars until our term ends in 2009. I'm lucky to be able to drive a Mitsubishi Gallant, besides, it's still in good condition," Rudy said.