Jakarta – The debate over the provision of luxury sedans for councilors moved to another level Friday, with the city budget watchdog accusing them of breaking the law.

The coordinator of Jakarta's branch of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, Izlan Sentrio, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that only legislative speakers had the right to official cars.

"The distribution of Toyota Corolla Altis' to anyone other than the council speaker and the three deputy speakers is against the law," he said, referring to a 2005 government regulation on the financial status of councilors.

"Whatever the argument is, the other councilors have no grounds for receiving the cars. This is against the law and they deserve sanctions. They could go to jail," said Izlan.

He rejected the argument of one councilor, who said councilors have the right to a number of facilities, including cars, as stipulated in a 2006 Home Ministry regulation.

"There are only two (relevant) Home Ministry regulations. One is about the management of provincial finances and the other is about facilities for provincial administration officers. Neither says anything about official cars for councilors," Izlan said.

Council member Prya Ramadhani from the Golkar Party said councilors had the right to official cars provided by the administration.

"It is mentioned in a ministerial regulation, but I forget which one. Also, the city administration and the council have agreed that these cars are on loan, not gifts. We'll return them in 2009 after our terms of office end," he said.

Prya said that prior to receiving the official cars two months ago, most councilors traveled to work in their personal cars, while others took public transportation. "I wonder why people have made a fuss about this, but say nothing about cars for subdistrict heads and provincial secretaries," he said.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said the city used 1,888 official vehicles, of which 75 were lent to councilors. The rest were distributed among administration officers.

According to the head of the procurement and storage division of the city administration, Benjamin Bukit, there were three types of official vehicles – sedans, passenger vehicles and vehicles used by the city's agencies, such as fire engines, ambulances and garbage trucks.

"We consider councilors to be at the same level as the city's bureau and agency heads, so we have provided them with Toyota Corolla Altis' until their terms of office end. If we gave them cheaper cars, it would be like putting them down," Benjamin said.

He said in 2007 the city administration allocated a budget of Rp 16 billion (approximately US$1.75 million) to purchase 60 Altis cars for 49 councilors and 11 heads of the administration's bureaus and agencies. Each of the cars was priced Rp 263 million, as quoted by the sole Toyota agent in the country, he said.