Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under public scrutiny for the second time this week after a budget watchdog disclosed his "lavish" spending on outfits and furniture.
Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) investigation and advocacy coordinator Uchok Sky Khadafi said in a press statement Thursday that the President received Rp 839 million (US$22,800) from the 2010 state budget to buy new outfits and Rp 42 billion to renew his furniture.
The disclosure of the spending comes only a few days after FITRA's announcement that the President was the largest spender of state funds for overseas working trips compared to other state institutions.
"With the amount allocated, imagine the kind of furniture that will garnish his residence. This is a very lavish behavior showing no sensitivity to the lives of the poor," Uchok said.
He added that the Rp 839 million a year clothing allowance meant the President could afford to spend Rp 16 million on outfits every week. "This is very ironic, considering that those in extreme poverty can hardly buy one item of clothing every year."
FITRA, which claimed it sourced the figures from the State Secretariat's 2010 budget, also criticized the Presidential Palace for the Rp 60 billion renovation of the State Secretariat office building, which is located inside the Palace complex in Jakarta.
The watchdog also slammed a Rp 49 billion allocation for the procurement of road blocks around the Palace complex, and Rp 52 billion for financing VVIP security measures for the President, including plans to further increase this to Rp 81 billion for 2011.
"The national secretariat of FITRA is concerned about this as the President is obviously spending state money in a lavish manner while poor people suffer," Uchok said.
"The President has also been hypocritical: He always asks that people save, yet he himself fails to do the same with the state budget," he added.
FITRA asked the House of Representatives' Commission II overseeing home affairs and state appa-ratus to demand an explanation over the President's use of the state budget and to reduce it when necessary.
State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, however, has been quick to deny FITRA's claims by questioning where the NGO obtained their data. "Why on earth would the President need a budget for clothes, furniture and that sort of stuff?
The President has never used [the state budget] for his own personal interests. The NGO's data is absolutely incorrect," Sudi was quoted as saying by news portal kompas.com.
Earlier this week, FITRA claimed the President used Rp 179 billion for overseas working visits in 2010 alone, arousing much public criticism. It said, however, that it could not expect the House to take the President to task as legislators themselves were the second-highest spenders of the state budget on overseas working visits, many of which have been called unnecessary by critics.