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Online millennial platform calls for explanation on inflated Jakarta budget
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Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (center) talks to reporters after presenting the draft budget on Nov. 15 at the City Council in Central Jakarta. (JP/Seto Wardhana.)
T
he Jakarta administration still owes the public an explanation over the city's inflated 2018 draft budget, online platform Kawal Jakarta said in a statement Thursday.
Kawal Jakarta coordinator Idris Ahmad said the city administration must be able to explain how it had managed to raise the city budget by Rp 5 trillion in two weeks. In Late October, the budget was Rp 74 trillion (US$5.5 billion), but it now stood at Rp 77.1 trillion.
Idris said that the information provided on the official city budget portal, apbd.jakarta.go.id, was not enough on its own to provide transparency. “Jakartans need an explanation on the new budgetary additions and how they would benefit the people,” he added.
The 2018 draft city budget will be deliberated today (Nov. 30), the deadline for the city administration and the City Council as mandated by Government Regulation No. 12/2017.
Idris cited an allocation for land acquisition as an example of how the administration might not have conducted an appropriate study in such a short timeframe. “The land procurement budget has increased by Rp 2 trillion alone. Has the city administration not learned from previous years that most land acquisitions and land utilization remain minimal?”
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle politician Bestari Barus said on Wednesday that public scrutiny of the draft budget played a significant role in slashing billions of rupiah in spending for programs that were deemed unnecessary.
The Kawal Jakarta platform was established by the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Solidarity Party, a newly established political party that caters to the so-called millennial generation. (dis)
