W

ith a commitment to spur economic growth through development projects, the government will give local leaders and public officials flexibility to speed up capital expenditure this year.

Law enforcement institutions, including the National Police, Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) agreed on Monday to support President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s call to give the officials legal protection against graft convictions.

Jokowi is aiming to speed up capital expenditure disbursement, which remains at 20 percent of around Rp 290 trillion (US$ 21 billion) (earmarked in the 2015 state budget.

Finance Ministry data said that total regional transfer funds in the banking system stood at Rp 273.5 trillion as of June. For 2015, the government has set aside around Rp 643.8 trillion under the regional transfer funds budget, with the figure expected to increase to Rp 735.2 trillion, as already stipulated in the draft 2016 state budget.

'€œThe KPK head, police [chief] and attorney general agreed that [a policy that] potentially causes state losses will [not be legally processed] if the legal breach is not [evident],'€ Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Monday. '€œTherefore, it is more of a preventative [measure].'€

Jokowi invited Attorney General M. Prasetyo, acting KPK chairman Taufiequrachman Ruki, National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti and a number of ministers, including Luhut, to meet on Monday morning at the Bogor Palace and later invited them to attend another meeting later in the day with a number of governors to address the low-disbursement rate issue.

Jokowi, who has been seeking ways to improve the capital expenditure rate, as well as to increase investment in the country, recently said that the government would remove or ease regulations that hindered investment. The government recently scrapped requirements for foreigners working in Indonesia to master Indonesian.

Although legal activists recently warned that such legal protection for public officials against graft convictions could likely be exploited by corrupt bureaucrats, the government pressed ahead with the move to allow public officials to use their discretion in disbursing funds for development projects.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung argued that such a call was needed as many local leaders and officials were afraid to use budgets for capital spending despite the fact that they were allowed to use their discretion in spending regional budgets as long as it was for public interest, as stipulated in the 2014 law on government administration.

Jokowi was quoted by presidential communication team member Teten Masduki during the meeting as saying that '€œtherefore I ask all law enforcers not to criminalize a policy. Discretion should be used in speeding up development'€.

Teten said the call was merely to ensure development programs ran smoothly.

'€œPlease do prosecute [the culprit] as harsh as you can if [the person] is proven to have stolen [the funds] or accepted bribes,'€ Teten said, quoting the President.

According to Luhut, his office would also monitor the use of funds by the public officials and local leaders.

While the AGO, Prasetyo said, would establish a team to provide assistance and consultation for public officials.

'€œIt will be a [corruption] prevention [measure],'€ he added.

Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) head Harry Azhar Azis, who also attended the meeting, said that law enforcement should not follow up on the BPK audit within 60 days after the BPK concludes its audit to give time for the public officials to adjust their discretion. According to Harry, the existing law allowed the BPK to give a 60-day grace period for the public officials to follow up on its audit.

'€œWithin the 60 days, the BPK finding should not be brought before the law. Afterward, and should the ministerial officials and local administrations or governors, regents and mayors not follow up on it, then a legal investigation can be launched,'€ Harry said.

Although he supported the move, Ruki said it did mean the KPK would tolerate corruption.

'€œSometimes discretion is needed when making a policy. This is about whether discretion violates the law or whether it is essentially needed. So, this does not mean tolerating the criminal acts,'€ he said.

He warned, however, the public officials and local leaders not to accept kickbacks or bribes in using their discretion.

'€œThey don'€™t need to be worried if they carry out their tasks properly,'€

Ruki said the antigraft body would first ask the BPK for an investigative audit should his office find indications state losses in a project.