HOUSE'S "PORK BARREL" SCHEME SPARKS CONTROVERSY

By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, June 19 (Antara) - The House of Representatives' (DPR's) constituency development funds program, popularly called the aspiration funds, has ignited a controversy since the public views it as a pork barrel that could lead to dissipation and corruption.         "It is better (for the House) to stop deliberating on it, let alone disbursing the money, as it could lead to wastage of funds and create new corruption, collusion, and nepotism practices,"  Lely Arrianie, the chief of the Jayabaya University's Post-Graduate Program on Communications, stated on Wednesday.         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 and will be channeled to the regional governments for use in projects based on the development agenda of the constituencies.