Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – With 17 ministers of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 34-member Cabinet coming from six political parties in the government coalition, the misappropriation of public funds for political purposes is expected to become more rampant ahead of the 2014 elections, a budget watchdog says.
Ucok Sky Khadafi from the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said these 17 ministries were the most vulnerable to budget misappropriation and should be monitored intensively.
Allocations for social aid funds were among the most misappropriated in this sense, Ucok said. "Social aid funds always account for a significant portion to state budget without clear purposes. If it is for social purposes, why is there still massive poverty all across the nation?" Ucok said on Wednesday.
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) previously stated that many of its findings revealed that state bodies, both at the central and regional levels, had abused taxpayers funds to finance political activities. This has also become a serious concern for the President.
On Tuesday, the President warned his ministers not to abuse state budget for political purposes ahead the 2014 general elections.
The President said he was concerned over the facts that many state bodies lost focus in breaking down their main duties into projects which then led to suspicion from the public that the state-budget-funded projects could be merely political tools.
"Next year's state budget is very important, not only because 2014 is the last year of my second term in office, but also because it is the year when the general elections will be held," Yudhoyono said before his ministers during a Cabinet meeting at his office on Tuesday.
The President also said that the budgeting processes at the House of Representatives might end up in political bargains in which politicians could push for the government to allocate the budget for certain projects that might merely be for the sake of the interests of the politicians political parties.
"These political factors sometimes look very tempting, but you have to be tough and strict to the policies we have planned. During the processes, there could be some adjustments or changes, but don't compromise our priorities set in our five-yearly development plan," Yudhoyono said. The President told his ministers not to create state-budget-funded projects with intention only to garner public sympathy.
President Yudhoyono is scheduled to deliver a speech on the 2014 state budget draft at a House of Representatives plenary session on Aug. 16. After that, the government and lawmakers will begin to deliberate the state budget draft.
Several government officials and regional leaders have been convicted of corruption for misusing social aid funds.
According to Fitra, the government has allocated Rp 69.6 trillion (US$6.94 billion) for social aid funds. Social aid funds at the Religious Affairs Ministry, under the leadership of Suryadharma Ali of the United Development Party, is the biggest this year, with Rp 11.28 trillion, it says.
The second is the Agriculture Ministry with Rp 6.35 trillion. Agriculture Minister Suswono, now embroiled in a graft case surrounding the importation of beef, is a senior Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) once dubbed the Religious Affairs Ministry as one of the most corrupt state institution.
Mochamad Jasin, the ministry's Inspector General and a former KPK commissioner, claimed that the Rp 2,4 trillion (US$246,47 million) of social aid managed by the Director General of Islamic Education in 2012, might cause state losses.
"The funds were mistargeted," he said as quoted by tempo.co.