Jakarta,
June 27 (Antara) - The House of Representatives (DPR) appears prepared
to go ahead with plan to propose an Electoral Region Development Fund
(UP2DP) worth Rp11.2 trillion, despite opposition from many circles.
The
plenary session of the DPR on Tuesday (June 23) agreed on moving
forward with UP2DP, despite the fact that three factions of the House
rejected it. The aspiration funds will soon be deliberated by the House
Budgetary Body, which will discuss the 2016 Draft State Budget.
Earlier, Chairman of the House of the Budgetary Committee Ahmad Noor
Supit noted that the DPR was planning to allocate Rp11.2 trillion to all
legislators as aspiration funds for regional development in their
respective constituencies. The funds will be set aside in the Draft 2016
State Budget.
Each of the 560 members of the House will receive Rp20 billion as
aspiration funds, which will be channeled to the regional governments
for use in projects based on the development agenda of the
constituencies.
DPR Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah remarked that the aspiration funds
scheme was proposed as an implementation of the House's constitutional
task and oath of office, which was regulated by the law.
He said that rejecting the aspiration funds meant rejecting the
implementation of the Constitutional obligations and violating the House
members' oath of office.
"The DPR only implements the law. The law has regulated the need to
hear the constituents' aspirations. This also is an implementation of
the oath of office," Hamzah pointed out.
At the same time, National Development planning Minister Andrinof
Chaniago said the aspiration funds concept collided with, and is in
opposition to President Joko Widodo's vision and missions.
"Through the laws, the development programs are drafted based on the
President's vision and missions. The aspiration funds run counter to the
vision and missions," remarked Chaniago on Wednesday.
The same view was also raised by Minister/State Secretary Pratikno. He
said that the aspiration funds proposal needs to be reviewed.
He
noted that President Joko Widodo hoped that all sides would pay
attention to the people's conditions and be careful and efficient in
using the state budget. "Therefore, the aspiration funds, let alone a
new expenditure post in the budget outside the already planned one,
cannot be accepted," stressed Pratikno.
Further,
political communications expert Hendri Satrio of the University of
Paramadina said he hoped the government would reject the aspiration
funds proposal.
"It is good that Mr President disagrees with it and hopefully he will
be consistent so that the aspiration funds proposal will be rejected,
Hendri Satrio of the University of Paramadina said on Friday.
He
added that it is a good step for the President to disagree with the
proposal, even though the head of state had not yet issued an official
statement.
Satrio
said it is better to reject the aspiration funds, as there is no
guarantee that the people's aspirations would be well accommodated,
based upon past practices, noting that the funds might result in a
burden to the budget.
"If approved, the aspiration funds can become a matter of legislators'
individual concerns. It is difficult to assure how legislators would
accommodate the people's aspirations and distribute the funds. This is
still a question. It is not easy to disburse funds for the people's
aspirations," he said.
Constitutional law expert Refly Harun said he disagreed with the
aspiration funds scheme for members of the House of Representatives
(DPR), noting that the distribution of funds should benefit the entire
Indonesian people, not certain electoral regions, as intended in the
UP2DP scheme.
Based on the scheme, each DPR member will receive Rp20 billion in development programs for his or her constituency.
"A development program should be proposed by the government and
endorsed by the House. The implementation by the government should be
supervised by the House. The development program is for all Indonesian
people, not for certain electoral regions only," he stressed.
Refly
stated that DPR members should not propose an aspiration funding scheme
of that kind, because as representatives they have many other
responsibilities with regard to their respective constituents in
channeling their aspirations.
"House members have representative functions, for example, reporting to
the regional police chief if the people's land is seized by officials,
or assisting poor residents who could not afford medical facilities, so
that they can receive medical treatment at hospitals," he stressed.
In the meantime, the Finance Ministry has not yet received an official letter on the aspiration funds proposal scheme.
"Although there has been a discourse on the aspiration funds (within
the ministry of finance), it has not yet been officially discussed, so
it should be an official proposal," Finance Minister Bambang
Brodjonegoro said on Friday.
He added that, until now, the aspiration funds issue was still an
internal matter in the parliament. So far, the finance ministry has not
yet received an official letter or proposal from the House for
deliberating it with the government.
"I don't know about the aspiration funds, because the ministry has not
received any proposal. It is the DPR¿s business. Why should we offer a
response to its internal affairs?" the minister asked, referring to the
possibility of the DPR to propose an aspiration fund scheme worth Rp11.2
trillion in the 2016 state budget.
Based on the aspiration funds concept, each of the 560 legislators will
receive Rp20 million in public funds from the government to be
channeled for development programs in the lawmakers' respective
constituencies, such as has been popular in the United States.
The government has not yet agreed to the aspiration funds, which still
fuels debate because it is feared it will only create moral hazards and
widen the development gap between Java and regions outside Java.
Communication expert Lely Arrianie, the chief of Jayabaya University's
Post-Graduate Program on Communications, said the funds can potentially
be misused and create injustices among constituencies, as most of the
House members represent constituencies in Java.
"Because a majority of DPR members represent constituencies in Java,
most of the funds will be allocated to Java Island, and this will run
counter to the urgency of implementing equitable development programs
for all regions," Arrianie pointed out.***2***
(T.A014/INE/o001)
(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 27-06-2015 14:31:5 |
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