Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' plan to spend Rp 33.4 billion (US$2.83 million) renovating the offices of its legislators has been criticized for lacking transparency.
Critics have said the project's lack of transparency invites public suspicions that the House secretary-general, the contractors and involved legislators may be involved in bribery or a mark-up scam.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction secretary Ganjar Pranowo said while it was important for legislators to have offices, the House needed to be transparent in how it used the money.
"We need clarification on why building partitions in 546 rooms should cost taxpayers such a huge amount of money. Failing to give a public explanation will only raise suspicions of graft," he said.
Legislator Harry Azhar Azis of the Golkar Party questioned the timing of the project, saying the global financial crisis could start affecting low-income families early next year.
"We had better postpone it until after the elections – after we have the newly elected lawmakers. Doing it now means the issue can be politicized as factions will try to use the issue to campaign against corruption and lacking transparency," he said.
The plan has also been rejected by the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Star Reform Party (PBR).
House secretary-general Nining Indra Saleh said earlier that some Rp 26.6 billion would be spent to build partitions to separate the offices of legislators and those of their secretaries and expert staff. He said Rp 6.9 billion would be spend on procuring new furniture, while the remainder of the fund would be spent on building 10 rooms for legislators and 11 rooms for faction heads.
"We have conducted open tenders for the renovation and the purchase of the furniture. We picked (the contractors) that offered the lowest bid," she said.
Anti-corruption activists have called for a break down of how the money will be spend, citing that the project should not cost so much.
"What we need is a detailed calculation of the prices. In the past we have seen very low-quality furniture bought, for instance, suggesting it was bought for a very low price," Emerson Junto of the Indonesia Corruption Watch said.
House Speaker Agung Laksono defended the project, saying all representatives of all factions in the House's Household Affairs Committee (BURT) had approved the plan during discussions.
"Please, don't politicize the project. We have done it according to the procedure. If the BURT has agreed with the plan and the lawmakers oppose it, there's a communication problem between committee members and their colleagues in the factions," he said.
Ganjar, however, argued that although the BURT had approved the project, the factions could reject it if the public reacted negatively. "For instance, we canceled the previous plan to buy laptops for legislators after the public deemed it a waste of money," he said.