Ridwan Max Sijabat and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The House of Representatives threw its weight Monday behind regional councillors who have demanded the government retain a controversial regulation granting them a large allowance increase.
House Speaker Agung Laksono, presiding over a plenary House session with the councillors, said the House understood the councillors' demand and would lobby the government to maintain the regulation granting the allowance raise, which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced he would annul recently.
"The House along with the Home Affairs Commission will follow up the councillors' demands immediately to avoid any political instability nationwide," he said before closing the session.
Yudhoyono signed the regulation last November granting each councillor around Rp 60 million (US$6,666) on average for the so-called operational and communication allowance. The final amount was to be decided by each local council.
The President then announced he would revise the regulation, following strong criticism from civil society groups, who argued the allowance constituted corruption and was inappropriate given the country's financial difficulties.
During the plenary session, three councillors representing provincial legislatures, regency legislatures and municipal legislatures urged the President to keep the regulation, arguing they needed the allowance to properly carry out their duties.
The councillors also threatened to file a lawsuit against experts and NGOs who accused the regional councillors of corruption for taking the allowance.
Chairman of the home affairs commission E.E. Mangindaan said that despite strong opposition, his commission and Home Minister M. Ma'ruf have agreed to enforce the government's regulation, albeit with the revision of certain points.
"The regulation is still in effect but we will review especially chapter 14 which has allowed interpretations by regional administrations," he said.
Ma'ruf, following the President's decision to call back the allowances, had already set late this year as the deadline for councillors and chief councillors to return all allowances they received under the controversial regulation and threatened to impose sanctions against those failing to meet the deadline.
Meanwhile, State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the councillors' protests against an amendment of the regulation were premature. Yusril said that the government had not yet completed drafting the amendment.
"There has been no official decision whether or not councillors should return allowances that have been disbursed based on the regulation," Yusril told reporters at the Presidential Palace on Monday. "Whether councillors have to return the allowance will have to wait for the issuance of a new regulation on the matter."
Yusril's comment contradicted presidential spokesman Andi Alfian Mallarangeng's statement saying that all lawmakers who had received allowances had to return them before December 2007.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to convene a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to decide on details of the amendment.