Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has defended the practice of giving "thank-you money" to Religious Affairs Office (KUA) officials, saying that it has become "a tradition" and should not be categorized as a form of gratuity.
The minister made the statement on Thursday following reports that KUA officials were planning a strike after one of their colleagues in Kediri, East Java, was charged with graft for demanding Rp 10,000 (83 US cents) as an administration fee for each marriage he registered.
They said they would not register marriages outside their offices or working hours because there was no guarantee they would not be criminally charged with demanding additional fees from newlyweds for doing so, republika.co.id reported.
According to Suryadharma, there is nothing wrong with accepting the money since most of the KUA officials have to accommodate couples who want to get married outside working hours and outside KUA offices. Ministry data shows 94 percent of weddings were registered outside KUA offices.
"What people have to know is that when KUA officials work outside their offices, the government does not provide transportation money for them," he said.
Suryadharma said that most couples like to have their weddings registered outside working hours as they wanted to match their wedding date and time with superstitious beliefs.
Sometimes KUA officials also have to pay wedding expenses with their own money. "He [the official] wears a batik shirt or a suit with laundry bills of up to Rp 100,000," he said.
He also insisted the practice was appropriate because it had become a tradition. "For example in my village, a mantri [village doctor who performs circumcision] after performing a circumcision will be given bekakak [baked chicken], dodol [rice, coconut milk and palm sugar], rengginang [rice crackers] and bananas to take home," he said.
He explained that the officials not only performed an administrative task but also had a religious and cultural role. "Therefore, it's normal for the married couple to give thank-you gifts [of money]," he said.
The ministry and the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the matter and decided that there should be a regulation to protect KUA officials.
The House also suggested the ministry should coordinate with law enforcers, such as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO), to formulate the new regulation.
KPK spokesperson Johan Budi, however, said on Friday that it was clear that the "thank-you money" for KUA officials was a form of gratuity.
He said it was unnecessary to devise a new regulation as it was clearly stipulated in the 2001 Corruption Law that a state official was not allowed to accept any form of gratuity, including transportation money. "It's not permitted to make a regulation which contravenes existing law," he said.
Johan added that every form of gratuity accepted by state officials had to be reported to the KPK. "They [KUA officials] should have declined [the money]," he said.
Last year, the inspector general of the Religious Affairs Ministry M. Jasin, a former deputy chairman of the KPK, revealed that officials regularly asked for cash from couples wanting to register their marriages.
Jasin said that the KUA charged a couple Rp 30,000 as an administrative fee to record the vow, but on many occasions administrators demanded Rp 500,000, which could amount to Rp 1.2 trillion per year being swindled in wedding-vow registration.