Councillors agree to return allowances

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 02/02/2007 4:35 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A move to partly revoke a controversial allowance raise for councillors was greeted with a collective grumble in cities, regencies and provinces across the country Thursday.

Papua's legislative council members have agreed to return their Rp 108 million (US$11,739) per person allowance, but only when a regulation is passed requiring them to do so.

""We're ready to return the allowances but the move should be based on legal regulations, not simply because presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng said so,"" the council's deputy speaker Komarudin Watubun said.

Andi has said that local council leaders and members who received allowances based on the regulation must return the money to their local treasury office no later than December 2007.

But the deputy speaker said council members received the allowances based on a regulation and if they have to return the cash, it should also be based on a regulation.

""This regulation is like a trap. We were given the money and after we took it, we were told to return it. It creates the impression that we made a mistake receiving the cash,"" he said.

He said that Rp 50 million out of his share of the cash had been used to help build a bridge in a Merauke hamlet. ""I was elected from Merauke and people there asked for help to a build bridge and I sent the money. I kept the rest,"" he said.

Meanwhile, the director of Papua's Institute for Civil Strengthening (ICS), Budi Setyanto, praised the President's move, saying the move showed that he had taken the people's side.

He criticized the council members for planning to return the money only after a regulation required it of them.

""Why is it so hard to give back the money? Just return it without waiting. They're acting silly so they can avoid the government's policy,"" he told The Jakarta Post.

The Central Java legislative council remained undecided on the issue Thursday, but the council's deputy speaker Abdul Kadir Karding said any final decision would be up to the province's governor.

""But we realize a move has to be made since council members have become an object of controversy over the regulation,"" he said.

In the East Java town of Jember, only one council member has started returning the cash.

Hari Soemarsono, leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction at the council, began to return the money in line with his party's policy.

On Thursday, he returned Rp 20 million out of the Rp 54 million he received to the council's treasury secretary.

""I'll return the money in stages because honestly, there is a part of it which has been used for my family and for party purposes,"" he said, adding that he would return the rest soon.

The Jember council's 45 members received Rp 54 million each. But Jember council member Sucipto said Thursday he would keep the money.

""We received the money according to the regulation and it's the council's right,"" he told the Post.

Yudhoyono has appointed a team to revise the government regulation that raised the allowances.

The team consists of Home Affairs Minister M. Ma'ruf, Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani.

The Home Affairs Ministry's Director General of Regional Financial Management, Daeng Nazier, said since parts of the scheme have been put into effect, there is no need to revoke the regulation in order for several of its components to be revised.

""The amount of the communication allowance and operational budget will be based on three categories, such as high, medium and low,"" he said as quoted by Detik.com news portal.

Under the current regulation, issued in Nov. 2006, the amounts of the communication allowance and operational budget are decided by the local councils.

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