Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The recent major disasters have not only forced the government to review this year's budget, but have also tempted legislators at the House of Representatives to try to dip into a pot of additional relief aid.
The House has approved an extra Rp 1.7 trillion (US$1.8 million) in disaster aid. Lawmakers visiting their respective constituents in the current recess period are fighting for their shares.
Lalumara Satriwangsa, special staff at the office of the Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare, revealed Tuesday that a number of lawmakers had asked for some of the funds. Secretary to the minister Soetedjo Yuwono said several members of the House's budget committee had threatened to reject the government's proposed additional funding unless their requests for a share were met. "I have in my pocket the names of seven lawmakers who resorted to threats to get what they want," Soetedjo said.
Of the Rp 2.7 trillion in additional funding that the government proposed, only Rp 1.7 trillion has been approved by the budget committee. The figure was high in anticipation of further disasters in the remaining four months of the budget year. Two deadly earthquakes and a tsunami recently devastated areas on or near Java's southern coast, especially Yogyakarta and Pangandaran. A flash flood claimed more than 500 lives in Sinjai, South Sulawesi.
House Speaker Agung Laksono vowed to ask Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie to name lawmakers who were attempting to seek personal gain from the funds, saying such a practice was against the House's code of ethics.
"We want to know the names of the lawmakers who resorted to threats. They will face the House's disciplinary committee if we have evidence they are involved in power-brokering," he said.
He said lawmakers could not be punished if they filed their proposals through the relevant commissions, however, because politically they were responsible for fighting for their constituents' interests.
Deputy chairman of the disciplinary committee Gayus Lumbuun and chairman of the budgetary committee Emir Moeis criticized the lawmakers, saying the proposals should come from the regions, while the function of lawmakers is to monitor the budget and its implementation in the field.
"The government has to distribute the additional funds to disaster-prone regions while the House has to exercise their control function to ensure the funds are used properly to handle natural disasters and not spend it to build or rehabilitate hospitals," said Emir.
Several lawmakers, according to Soetedjo, asked for some of the additional relief money to renovate state hospitals in North Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, and in flood-stricken Sinjai regency, South Sulawesi. Soetedjo said the two proposals were turned down.
Gayus called on Minister Aburizal to not only name the lawmakers but also to provide material evidence for the House's ethics committee to follow up the allegations. "The two government officers should be available to give their testimony," he said, adding that the legislators could be dismissed if they were proven guilty of abusing their power.
Last year, a similar situation made headlines when several legislators mobilized political support from their colleagues to approve the allocation of autonomy funds to certain regions.