Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has revealed that the Indonesian Military and the National Police received funds both from the state and regional budgets.
"We have found that nine regencies and cities in Aceh spared some 'grant' funds apparently allocated for the military and the police," Andi Saiful Haq, a consultant for security reform at the Kontras told a conference Friday.
The finding was detected in a study conducted by Kontras' Aceh branch in cooperation with the Anti Corruption Movement (GeRAK) and the Legal Aid Foundation in Bener Meriah, Aceh Utara, Aceh Barat, Aceh Besar, Sabang, Pidie, Banda Aceh, Pidie Jaya and Lhokseumawe regencies between March and June, to see where the regional budgets were allocated.
The study found that Rp 8.5 billion (US$850,000) of the 2009-2010 approved budgets at the nine provinces were allocated for the military and the police, Andi said.
He said that based on the National Military Law, State Defense Law and National Police Law, budgets for all those sectors were financed by the state budget.
"That (receiving funds from regional budgets) is a mistake," Andi said, adding that such budgets were intended to be allocated for priority activities instead of financing military and police activities that were already financed by the state.
Unfortunately however, Andi said, the Home Ministry's 2008 Decree on Guidance for Regional Budget Allocation had provided an opening for the allocation.
The decree states that the regional administration can allocate funds from its budget through grants to support vertical institutions, such as military personnel helping with the development of villages and the Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD).
Responding to the finding, a security reform researcher from the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), Al Araf, urged the President and the House of Representatives to evaluate the Home Ministry's decree and revise the grant provision section.
"This is ironic. Amid the pressure to increase the defense budget, we find out that there are non-budgetary funds being channelled to the defense and security sectors," he said, adding there may have been similar practices in other regions throughout the nation.
In a series of recent military aircraft crashes, which have killed nearly 200 people, many people have blamed the accidents on a limited defense budget.
In response, the House then proposed to increase Indonesia's defense budget to Rp 36.5 trillion (US$3.6 billion) in 2010 from Rp 33.7 trillion allocated for this year.
"The defense budget is not only a matter of how much its allocated from the budget, but if the budget is used appropriately," said Al Araf.
Moreover, he added, the need to increase the defense budget was supposed to be followed by greater transparency and accountability of the defense sector.
"Accountability and transparency in the defense sector is a problem that remains in the sector and in the legislators as well. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) have yet to effectively monitor the sector," he said.
Imparsial human rights researcher, Bhatara Ibnu Reza, acknowledged that most of the time the BPK faced difficulties when it wanted to audit the Defense Ministry and the National Police.