West Java councillors may get Rp 3.5 billion 'welcome money'
West Java councillors may get Rp 3.5 billion 'welcome money'
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Slamet Susanto, Bandung/Yogyakarta
After approving a Rp 500 million clothing allowance for new
councillors, the West Java provincial council approved another Rp
3.5 billion (US$368,421) to cover the extra expenses of the
incoming councillors, including their house renovations.
This latest allocation, which was proposed by the provincial
council's budget committee, was hammered out last Friday. The new
councillors, who were elected in the April 5 polls, will be
inaugurated sometime between August and September this year.
According to a document made available to journalists, of the
Rp 3.5 billion allocation, Rp 2 billion will be earmarked for
renovating the official residences of the 100 councillors on Jl.
Cipageran in Bandung, as well as the official residence of the
speaker of the council on Jl. Cipunegara.
Another Rp 80 million will be used to buy new curtains for the
provincial council speaker's official residence. Cell phones will
be purchased for the speaker of the council and his three
deputies for Rp 30 million.
The councillors will also receive Rp 950 million in cash for
accommodations and other expenses while attending the upcoming
inauguration ceremony and orientation sessions.
The chairman of the budget committee at the provincial
councillor, Ketut Sustiawan, said the Rp 3.5 billion budget
allocation was legal because it had been approved by all of the
councillors and did not violate a decree issued by the home
minister on council budgets.
Danny Setiawan, the governor of West Java, said he had heard
nothing about the allocation. He said the councillors had yet to
present the council budget to the provincial government.
The new budget allocation comes after the current group of
councillors approved a Rp 500 million clothing allowance for the
incoming councillors.
In Yogyakarta, five newly elected members of the municipal
council refused to accept Rp 1.25 million that they had been
allocated for the purchase of suits.
The five councillors are from the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), which campaigned on an anti-corruption platform in the
recent elections.
M. Zuhrif Hudaya, one of the councillors and also the chairman
of the Yogyakarta branch of the PKS, said he and his fellow
councillors thought the clothing allowance was unnecessary.
He also said that accepting the money would have offended and
outraged the people, many of whom are living beneath the poverty
line.
The councillors' decision not to accept the money has been
conveyed to the secretariat of the municipal council through an
official letter, Zuhrif said.