Anita Rachman – A group of non governmental organizations urged the Corruption Eradication Commission on Sunday to tackle alleged chronic budget theft at the legislature, and urged that the budget allocation process be more transparent to the public.

The group, which includes leading watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch, the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation and Indonesia Budget Center, stated that there were at least two efforts that could be made to prevent so-called budget brokers from at the House of Representatives.

"The KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] can immediately take preventive and legal action against possible budget brokers, especially with budgets related to the allocation of regional infrastructure-adjusted funding [DPID]," Abdullah Dahlan from ICW said.

Ronald Rofiandri from PSHK said the KPK could look at how budgets are set at the House, and how brokers are able to gain influence into the process. He said the antigraft body could also monitor all documents circulated regarding those budgets.

"KPK might not monitor [budgets] until the final decision, but all documents circulated during the deliberation must be accessible for the commission," he said.

Another important strategy in the fight against budget graft would be force the House to adhere to transparency guidelines, Roland said, ensuring that all budget deliberations and documentation were accessible to the public at all times.

Budget brokers have captured the nation's attention since graft suspect and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin's allegation's of widespread bribery linked to Southeast Asian Games construction contracts.

Even the House's Budget Committee deputy chairman Tamsil Linrung has admitted to endemic graft among lawmakers and said that the practice can only occur when several parties collude.