Nivell Rayda – The Corruption Eradication Commission on Wednesday asked the government to regulate public officials receiving multiple incomes in order to better combat embezzlement from state coffers.
Muhammad Jasin, deputy for graft prevention at the commission, also known as the KPK, said many governors and district heads across the country had been receiving extra income from their private sector positions at provincial-level companies.
"Based on wealth reports submitted to the commission, public officials can have three of four sources of income," he said at a discussion held by Indonesia Corruption Watch. Jasin said that the practice was prone to graft.
"There are no fixed or universal regulations as to how much these officials should be paid," he said, "so officials could easily force the companies to pay them substantially or face limits on facilities and budget reductions."
The KPK is pushing the government to adopt a single-salary system. "The president must stop the practice and issue a decree or regulation, because that system would substantially prevent graft," Jasin said.
The KPK was currently engaged in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the issue, despite the apparent reluctance of the minister, Jasin added.
This month, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi admitted to receiving a supplementary income during his term as governor of West Sumatra.
During his term, Gamawan enabled all ex officio members of the provincial consultative leadership board (Muspida), which included himself, to receive extra incomes of between Rp 10 million and Rp 60 million ($1,100 to $6,500) per month.
Arif Nur Alam, director of the Indonesia Budget Center, said government officials often received substantial perks from other sources as well. "They enjoy special privileges like cars and allowances, which are astoundingly excessive," he said.
Based on local regulations and decrees, Arif said, some governors also claimed personal allowances of up to 1 percent of the province's income.
"So imagine a rich oil producing province such as East Kalimantan that has an annual income of Rp 1 trillion – the governor has the legal basis to ask for Rp 10 billion in annual personal allowances alone," he said.
Tama S Langkun, a researcher at ICW, pointed to recent findings by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that most officials' allowances were unaccounted for. "The current system allows officials to pocket illicit funds," he said.
Among the questionable claims discovered by the BPK was Rp 300 million that North Sumatra Governor Syamsul Arifin and deputy Yunus Saragih spent on food and beverages, Rp 99.2 million on gas for their private cars and Rp 49.2 million on the maintenance of their personal household appliances.
"The system is prone to corruption because it is hard to estimate how much public officials actually make," Tama said. "By imposing a single-salary system, there would be greater legal and civil controls."