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.