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Housing allowance for new lawmakers causes stir
The House of Representatives secretariat general has decided to stop directly providing housing for the body’s 580 incoming lawmakers and will offer them a monthly accommodation allowance instead.
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Lawmakers attend a House of Representatives plenary session on July 9, 2024, at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
A new policy offering newly inaugurated lawmakers a monthly housing allowance of tens of millions rupiah has caused a stir.
The House of Representatives secretariat general has decided to stop directly providing housing for the body’s 580 incoming lawmakers and will offer them a monthly accommodation allowance instead.
The decision was signed by House secretary-general Indra Iskandar on Sept. 25, before the inauguration of the new lawmakers. But the policy was only announced to the public last week, just as lawmakers elected in February’s legislative election, many of whom are incumbents, started their tenure.
Indra said all members of the House had been ordered to vacate their official residences at the Kalibata housing complex in South Jakarta by the end of October at the latest because many of the houses were no longer livable.
The House secretariat general will then return the properties, which were constructed in the 80s, to the Finance Ministry, which manages state assets.
On Monday, Indra noted that “only 45 percent of the 596 buildings at the House of Representatives official housing complex in Kalibata, South Jakarta, are livable”, kompas.com reported. He said lawmakers often complained of rats and leaks in the ceilings and walls during the rainy season.
He said another reason for the new policy was that in the past, many lawmakers, particularly those from Jakarta, did not actually reside in Kalibata. They preferred to live in their private homes and had staff members live in their official residences instead.
