Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite objections from the new minister of finance to a proposal that would give each House of Representatives lawmaker a Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) development fund for their constituencies, Golkar Party legislators on Wednesday urged the government to keep an open mind.

Addressing a news conference in Jakarta, Harry Azhar Azis, chairman of the House of Representative's Budget Council and a Golkar lawmaker, said Minister Agus Martowardoyo's objection, aired during a House's plenary session on Tuesday evening, was not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Agus, Harry said, had only outlined some possible conflicts between the proposal and law. "There was no word of rejection from the minister," he said.

"I'm not saying that the proposal would be accepted by the government, but there will certainly be room for both sides to talk this proposal over."

Harry insisted that the funds would not at any point be handled by lawmakers, but would be directly channeled to local governments to implement development projects.

"We would only take note of what our constituents needed, and then deliver that to the central government to be taken into account in its development plans," he said.

Setya Novanto, chairman of Golkar's faction in the House, said that many of his colleagues had been asked by their constituents to help facilitate development projects in their areas.

He said those pleas had led Golkar to propose the scheme, whereby the Rp 15 billion in funding would be used for programs related to people's welfare, health services and education. "The implementation would be conducted completely through a tender process," he added.

Setya said such programs were common in countries such as the Philippines, South Africa and Denmark, where the governments gave even bigger sums of money to lawmakers. He added that the disbursement of the funds would be transparent and audited by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

Meanwhile, Zainal Arifin Muchtar, a political analyst from Yogyakarta's Gajah Mada University, slammed the plan, saying it was just lawmakers feathering their own nests.

"It's like robbing state money for their own political interests," he said. "The logic behind the proposal is unacceptable. I hope our citizens can be more critical. Such a model should be avoided."