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Ahok broke rules, says council inquiry team
Although the 2015 budget saga has reached a conclusion, the City Council says it is continuing with its right of inquiry against Governor Basuki âAhokâ Tjahaja Purnama
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lthough the 2015 budget saga has reached a conclusion, the City Council says it is continuing with its right of inquiry against Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama.
The administration failed on Monday to secure approval from the council for a draft budget and was set to use the revised 2014 budget ceiling of Rp 72.9 trillion (US$5.6 billion).
However, right of inquiry investigation committee head Ongen Sangaji of the Hanura Party said the committee's work was near completion and it would conduct a plenary session next Wednesday to announce its findings.
Previously, during a plenary session last month, all 106 councilors agreed to exercise their right of inquiry against Ahok regarding the draft 2015 budget he had submitted to the Home Ministry.
They claimed the draft was not a result of deliberations between the council and administration and accused Ahok of violating 11 laws and regulations, including Government Regulation No. 58/2005 on regional financial management and Law No. 17/2003 on state finances.
The councilors also drafted their own budget, which they claimed was a result of deliberations with the administration. Ahok accused the councilors of including 'sneaky items' in their draft worth Rp 12.01 trillion out of a total Rp 73.08 trillion.
Ongen said the committee had questioned a number of people regarding the 2015 draft budget, including e-budgeting developer Gagat Sidi Wahono as well as regional secretary Saefullah, Financial and Asset Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono and Jakarta Development Planning Board head Tuti Kusumawati.
Thus far, he said, the committee had concluded that Ahok had 'violated a number of regulations'.
'From the evidence and statements we gathered, we conclude the governor violated a number of regulations as we initially suspected,' Ongen announced to reporters in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
Ongen, however, denied the councilors was seeking to impeach Ahok with the right of inquiry, and said they aimed to improve the administration.
He added that Ahok and the administration had not followed the law and Home Ministry regulations in drafting the 2015 budget. Ongen said Ahok lacked manners and public etiquette, and was 'irresponsible with his choice of words'.
According to Ongen, this week the committee was scheduled to speak to a number of political and state administration experts, including Tjipta Lesmana, Irman Putra Sidin and Margarito Kamis.
'We will invite experts to finalize our investigations this week. We don't know too much about the law and regulations, therefore, we need opinions from the experts,' he said.
Ahok shrugged off the council's allegations and said he did not feel threatened by the councilors. He challenged the councilors to question him.
'For a fair investigation, they should question me so they get an answer straight from me,' Ahok told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday.
He added that he was confused by the councilors' logic, which blamed him for an illegal draft budget.
'If they're accusing me of submitting an illegal budget, then that would also insult the Home Ministry, as the ministry accepted and acknowledged the authenticity of my version of the budget,' Ahok said.
Many parties in the council have been reprimanded by their central board for agreeing to exercise their right of inquiry against Ahok.
The central boards of Hanura, the NasDem Party, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have urged their members in the council to withdraw support for the right of inquiry, saying that such action was 'adding fuel to the fire'.
