Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A budget watchdog is warning that the bill for state-funded trips this year will exceed Rp 23.9 trillion ($2.6 billion), almost 10 times the amount allocated in 2009.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, the advocacy and investigation coordinator at the Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), called on Tuesday for government officials and legislators to scale back their visits in light of the mounting costs.

"We urge them to cut the trips for ministries and other institutions," he said. "The House of Representatives must also slash its budget for overseas trips."

Fitra notes that the revised state budget this year allocates Rp 23.9 trillion for official visits, including by legislators and bureaucrats. It warns that the real figure is bound to be higher, given the trend from previous years.

In 2011, the government initially allocated 20.9 trillion, but in the revised budget the figure was Rp 24.5 trillion.

Likewise in 2010, the initial allocation was Rp 16.2 trillion, while the revised budget called for Rp 19.5 trillion. In 2009, Rp 2.9 trillion was earmarked for state visits but this was increased to Rp 12.7 trillion. The actual amount spent that year was even higher, at Rp 15.2 trillion.

Uchok said most of the money this year would be spent on visits by ministry officials and other bureaucrats, rather than legislators, whose overseas jaunts frequently come under heavy criticism.

He also called on legislators to account for the spending of their recess funds. Fitra previously claimed that each legislator received around Rp 240.5 million during each of the House's four month-long recess periods to spend on activities in their constituencies.

"It must be clear what's being done with the money, otherwise people might get the idea that the money's just going to waste," he said.

The only House legislator to ever publish a recess spending report is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a former Golkar legislator who dropped out of the House earlier this year in order to become the running mate of Solo Mayor Joko Widodo in Jakarta's gubernatorial race.

Golkar's Bambang Soesatyo has claimed he is prepared to be open about his spending.

However, Gde Pasek Suardika, from the ruling Democratic Party, said the general public had no right to know how he spent his state-allocated funds. He insists he spends the money in "efforts to retain constituents" in his home province of Bali, which he said would be undermined if he made the details public.