Anita Rachman – How much money do Indonesian lawmakers actually take home every month? Judging from what one lawmaker has to say about it, the figure exceeds Rp 51 million ($6,000) – too much, many would think.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, from the Golkar Party, said that every month, he receives Rp 51.5 million in take-home pay after taxes. This includes his basic salary, allowances and benefits.
He said that the various sums of money he received each month included an intensive communications stipend, a monitoring and budgeting allowance, a committee allowance, a phone and electricity allowance, an aspiration allowance (for meeting with constituents) and even an honor allowance.
House leaders, he said, had even more pay and stipends, with a commission chairman taking home Rp 54.9 million per month and deputies Rp 53.6 million.
Roy Salam, from the Indonesian Budget Center, told the Jakarta Globe that based on their current performance, members of the House of Representatives did not deserve such high wages.
He cited a slow legislation process, poor attendance of meetings and wasteful trips overseas. "Why are we paying them that much for their poor performances?" Roy asked. "It must be revised, it must be adjusted to their performance."
Basuki said political parties usually garnished the salaries of their lawmakers. Golkar, for instance, took Rp 3.3 million from him each month.
Basuki added that since the completion of a housing complex for lawmakers, they no longer received a Rp 12.5 million monthly housing allowance. However, he said that other sources of state funds had been found or were being sought to offset the loss.
"They have been looking for new [budget] posts, so our total take-home pay has only been reduced by about Rp 6 million."
Basuki said that he even heard that lawmakers were trying to add more budget posts so that they would still receive the same allowance as before the housing complex was completed.
Syarifuddin Sudding, from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), told the Globe that he never paid attention to the details of his salary and allowances.
"All lawmakers receive about the same income," he said, adding that the amounts were not regulated by the lawmakers themselves. "It's the Household Affairs Committee [BURT] and the House Secretariat that sets the standard," Syarifuddin said.
He added that the allowances received by lawmakers were reasonable, given the fact that they needed financial support to communicate with constituents as well as pass laws.
However, Refrizal, BURT deputy chairman, denied it was his committee that set salaries and allowances, saying it was the House Secretariat, which was just following state guidelines. Refrizal also said the take-home pay was not as high as Basuki claimed.