House threatens to cut counterterrorism budget
Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Mon, September 10 2012, 3:25 PM
The House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense plans to reduce the state budget allocated for counterterrorism efforts, due to poor performance and an increasing number of terror attacks.
Commission I chairman Mahfudz Shiddiq said on Monday that the increasing number of attacks highlighted the lack of coordination among three institutions responsible for countering terrorism, including the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the National Police.
"We propose to cut their budgets, because it seems that they cannot perform well even with their current funding. They apparently just compete for money, not performance," Mahfudz said, emphasizing that effective coordination among the three institutions would improve efforts to fight terrorism even with smaller budgets.
He added that his commission had scheduled a hearing with the three institutions next week to assess whether they had a strategic plan to combat terrorism nationwide.
In the 2012 state budget, BIN was allocated Rp 995.9 billion (US$108.45 million), BNPT Rp 92 billion, and the National Police Rp 41.9 trillion.(iwa)
