C

ity Council speakers have dismissed Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama'€™s suspicions over irregularities in the 2015 city budget draft bylaw, saying that the accusation stemmed from a misunderstanding.

Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and deputy speaker Triwisaksana of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) on Monday held a closed-door meeting with Ahok at the governor'€™s office after he made his suspicions public over the weekend.

Ahok said that while going over the budget draft, he found Rp 8.8 trillion (US$698.7 million) that was to be allocated for various questionable programs, including a socializing governor'€™s decree and procurement projects in different agencies.

He also alleged that a number of city councilors were behind the irregularities, although he refused to reveal names.

Prasetio said there was no such thing as random allocations amounting to trillions of rupiah in the 2015 budget.

'€œWe met with Pak Ahok to clarify the news report. There were no such allocations. It was merely a misunderstanding,'€ he said.

Prasetio explained that he had been busy and the Council had yet to submit anything to the Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda).

If indeed there were any irregular programs inserted into the budget draft bylaw, Prasetio said, '€œit must have been done by an irresponsible [council] member'€.

'€œPak Ahok should directly ask this particular person because the remaining 105 councilors basically have no problem with the budget,'€ he added.

Triwisaksana said that a number of relevant officials, including the city secretary, the Bappeda head, and staff from the Jakarta Financial Management Agency and the Jakarta Inspectorate, were also present during the meeting '€œto solve the misunderstanding'€.

Triwisaksana stressed that the Council was not entitled to propose programs in the city budget deliberation.

'€œPrograms are proposed by the executive. Usually agencies propose the program and then together we discuss it. Lobbying is common during this stage. The City Council is not allowed to propose programs,'€ Triwisaksana said.

Prasetio said the Council aimed to hold a plenary session to endorse the budget draft bylaw sometime this week.

'€œWe aim to endorse it this month,'€ he said.

He emphasized that he had provided access to the city budget deliberation process, saying that, '€œI always make budgetary meetings open so you journalists can cover them. We have nothing to hide'€.

Ahok said he was optimistic the budget endorsement would not be sabotaged by disgruntled councilors. '€œI believe councilors are not all the same. I'€™ve also got support from some of them who called me and said they supported the executive'€™s programs,'€ he said after the meeting.

Ahok pointed out that rigid budgeting was made possible after the implementation of e-budgeting.

'€œBack then, corrupt officials could insert random programs but with e-budgeting, we can track down accounts of who modified the budget,'€ he said.

Uchok Sky Khadafi of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) said that dubious programs inserted into the city budget were usually initiated by businessmen in cooperation with corrupt officials and councillors.

'€œThe modus operandi usually goes like this: the businessmen approach agency heads and propose the programs. They later approach the councilors asking for support and for them to raise the budget allocation,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Uchok also encouraged Ahok to name the culprit behind the budget irregularities.

'€œAhok should just reveal it to the public,'€ he said.