Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – With several renovation projects in progress, the House of Representatives (DPR) has built a comfortable nest for the legislators. However, such comfort doesn't necessarily improve lawmakers' poor performance.
Critics have long feared that the various luxuries that House members have enjoyed would only distance the legislators from the public.
The Indonesian Parliament Watchdog (Formappi) lambasted the House, which it said had no culture of shame in wasting the state budget collected from taxpayers.
"[Through many proposed facilities projects] the House members are upgrading their status even though they show poor performance," Formappi secretary-general Sebastian Salang said.
As part of the luxuries they think they are entitled to, he added, the House members have also upgraded the plane tickets they purchase from economy class to business and executive class when they have to travel.
Members of the House seem unconcerned with criticisms of discretionary spending, as they have pushed on with controversial infrastructure projects and facility upgrades this fiscal year.
The Rp 20.3 billion (US$2.26 million) renovation of a House meeting room is only one of six projects approved in 2011. Some projects are still under way to provide upgraded facilities for the lawmakers.
Besides the meting room, the House Secretariat General is carrying out a Rp 3 billion renovation of the parking lot, a Rp 2 billion refurbishment of the toilets, a Rp 1.59 billion procurement of fragrance devices, a Rp 1.3 billion production of calendars, a Rp 4.8 billion procurement of large LED TVs and a Rp 3.7 billion fingerprint scanning machine.
Remunerations for the 560 lawmakers, including monthly payments and allowances, will also be raised this year.
Secretary-General Nining Indra Saleh said over the weekend that her side would go ahead with the projects because they have already received approval from the lawmakers and the government.
The Secretariat General's facilities procurement bureau head Soemirat said the renovation of the House's budget committee room was so costly because it would be equipped with anti-bugging equipment.
"The anti-bugging device that cost Rp 7.8 billion has been included in the renovation budget, but the device has not been installed pending the official hand-over of the room to the budget committee," he told The Jakarta Post.
Deputy secretary-general Slamet Suntarso regretted that House leaders have washed their hands of the controversial projects and laid the blame on the Secretariat General.
He said the projects were set and included in the House's 2011 budget and they had already been discussed in detail with the House's household affairs (BURT) and budget committees before their execution.
"All the projects at the House and the Secretariat General carried out in 2011, were proposed in April 2010 and inserted in the draft budget submitted by the President to the House in August 2010," he said, adding that all details in the projects were deliberated by the House's BURT and budget committee with the Secretariat General and the Finance Ministry.
The budget committee, BURT and House leaders have declined to account for the renovation projects, saying it has been never deliberated in details with the Secretariat General. In handling the case, the House's Honorary Council has asked the consulting company and the construction company to replace all renovation materials ordered from Germany with local products so that the renovation's costs could be cut to Rp 13 billion.
Chairman of the budget committee Melchias Markus Mekeng and his deputies were not available for comment.
With an overall increase in the House's budget this year, all 560 lawmakers are to receive an increase in monthly salaries and allowances. Lawmakers will each receive a monthly salary of Rp 60 million, an increase from Rp 58 million, for a total of Rp 105 million to cover seven planned activities during the recess period.
"This is part of the House's decision to raise its budget for salaries and allowances to Rp 1.03 trillion this year from Rp 914 billion in 2011," Nining said, adding that lawmakers scheduled to conduct seven activities during the recess, and each activity cost Rp 15 million. The House is in recess five times per year.
The House also raised the budget for the control, budgetary and legislative programs to Rp 903.7 billion from Rp 755.5 billion in 2011, while supplementary funds for the three functions was raised almost by 100 percent Rp 148.3 billion from Rp 78 billion in 2011.
Al Mudjamil, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), confirmed the increases in monthly salaries, allowances and supporting facilities for lawmakers in 2012 and that the increases would be effective as of this month.
Sebastian Salang admitted that while activists had plenty of ammunition to criticize lawmakers' luxurious lifestyles and their corrupt behavior, they were unable to push the House to make necessary improvements in its policies in the legislative, budget and control functions, or to bring legislator's lifestyles more in line with the majority of their constituents.
He also questioned the procurement of anti-bugging device for the budget committee. According to him, the equipment should be canceled and the budget should be returned to the state because the committee must open its meetings to the public. Furthermore, he said, the budget committee has to be closely monitored by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) since it has been believed to be a nest of corruption within the DPR.
The House has been under fire for its poor legislative performance, reaching only 15 percent of its legislative target in the previous year. In addition to controversial facility upgrades, many lawmakers have allegedly been involved in abuse of power and graft cases.