M

ore lawmakers have stepped up to oppose a plan by the House of Representatives to channel up to Rp 11.2 trillion (US$861 million) of state funding for development projects in their respective constituencies, calling the plan unconstitutional and prone to abuse.

While several lawmakers, who are mostly from the political factions within the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition, have publicly expressed their objection to the plan, a few have gone as far as to call for an amendment to the 2014 Law on legislative institutions, known as the MD3 Law.

'€œThe MD3 Law is the legal base used to justify the constituency funds. It would be useless to oppose the plan without revising the existing law as the regulation can be used to revive the plan anytime in the future,'€ leader of the NasDem faction, Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

'€œNasDem will thus propose dropping all stipulations that accommodate the constituency funds from the MD3 Law. We will officially present our stance on the matter when the House asks for the final decision of each faction,'€ the member of the House Commission I, which oversees defense, foreign affairs and informatics, added, expecting that more factions would be convinced to follow suit.

The House has been in the spotlight in the last few weeks following the revelation of a proposal to set aside so-called aspiration funds worth approximately Rp 20 billion for each of the 560 lawmakers annually, which is meant to help them develop their electoral districts.

Lucius Karus from Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi) for example slammed the plan, describing it as simply a gateway for lawmakers to evade their responsibilities to their constituents.

'€œIt will burden the state because lawmakers will put their responsibility onto the state,'€ he said in a statement, adding that lawmakers'€™ poor performance had further convinced the public that the constituency funds plan was a waste of money.

Besides focusing on their responsibilities to deliberate laws and regulations, draft the national budget in collaboration with the government and monitor the government'€™s work, Article 72 of the MD3 Law also expects lawmakers to reach out to their constituents for input and their aspirations to better develop their environments.

In order to enable lawmakers to realize the aspirations of their respective constituents, Article 75 of the law grants the power for each lawmaker to independently design the budget allocation needed for programs to be delivered to their constituents.

The article states that the House secretary-general'€™s office will be in charge of managing the funds if lawmakers'€™ plans are passed after discussion with the government.

In order to draw up the mechanism for distributing the money, a recently established working committee of the House'€™s legislation body (Baleg) is deliberating a regulation that is expected to regulate how lawmakers use the funds.

The regulation is also expected to set up a rigid monitoring process that will oblige lawmakers to regularly provide reports on the use of the money.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Henry Yosodiningrat has also opposed the proposal, arguing that the huge sums would be prone to embezzlement due to a lack of proper management.

The secretary of the PDI-P faction, Bambang Wuryanto, insisted the party would oppose the proposal, calling on all PDI-P lawmakers to comply with the party'€™s stance.

A working committee on the plan, which is headed by National Awakening Party (PAN) lawmaker Totok Daryanto confirmed that his team, which comprises representatives from each of the 10 political factions at the House, would accommodate all concerns about the proposed funding.

'€œWe will work on each stipulation to avoid potential embezzlement, for example, as well as other concerns,'€ Totok said recently.

The committee is expected to finish deliberating the plan by June 24 so that the House can endorse it immediately ahead of a recess that will start on July 11, when lawmakers can return to their constituencies.