Teras.id, Jakarta – Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has denied the news about an increase in the recess fund for members of the parliament. The fund for absorbing aspirations during recess periods is suspected to have increased to Rp756 million.
Dasco dismissed the information. "It's not true," he said through a messaging application on Wednesday night, October 8, 2025.
The politician from the Gerindra Party apologized for responding late to the confirmation request sent a day earlier, on Tuesday, October 7, 2025. "The Whatsapp messages piled up, so I could only reply later," he said.
Sources at the Tempo within the DPR stated that the fund for absorbing aspirations during recess periods is suspected to have increased. According to the documents obtained by Tempo, the DPR recess fund became Rp756 million as of October 2025. The document is a proof of payment sent by the General Secretariat of the DPR.
In the document, it is stated that the activity funds amounting to Rp756 million were sent to the recipient. Meanwhile, the amount of the recess fund has increased compared to the recess fund in May 2025, which amounted to Rp702 million.
Prior to May, DPR members received recess funds for activities amounting to Rp360 million. Thus, the recess funds for the DPR have been raised twice this year. This is also evidenced by the proof of payment documents issued by the General Secretariat of the DPR, as seen by Tempo.
Tempo is still trying to request a response from the Secretary General of the DPR, Indra Iskandar, but he has not replied to the message sent. Deputy Chair of the DPR Commission VIII, Singgih Januratmoko, also denied the allegation. "There has been no change whatsoever," said Singgih when contacted on Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
The politician from the Golkar Party did not respond when asked whether the amount of the recess fund remains at Rp702 million. He only emphasized that the DPR has fulfilled the demands to abolish allowances, which were highlighted during the demonstrations at the end of August.
Deputy Chair of the DPR Commission IX, Muhammad Yahya Zaini, admitted to being unaware of the increase in the recess fund. "I haven't been informed," Yahya told Tempo on Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
Tempo previously discussed the issue of the increase in recess fund in an article entitled 'Mengapa Tunjangan DPR Meningkat tanpa Dibarengi Kinerja' (Why Did DPR Allowances Increase Without Accompanying Performance) published on August 29, 2025.
The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) has previously addressed the substantial amount of recess funds allocated to DPR members. Fitra researcher, Siska Baringbing, stated that every year, DPR members have the potential to receive Rp4.2 billion to support recess activities.
According to Siska, in the List of Budget Implementation Plans (DIPA) of the DPR, the total budget allocation for absorbing aspirations through recess for DPR members in 2023-2025 averaged Rp2.4 trillion. If divided among the 580 DPR members, she estimated that each DPR member receives around Rp4.2 billion.
Siska detailed that this budget is allocated for 4 types of activities, namely official visits outside the recess and outside the DPR session (8 times a year); official visits during the recess period (5 times a year); official visits during the recess period or during the DPR session (1 time a year); and members of the DPR's aspirational house.
In 2025, the total budget for these four types of recess activities is approximately Rp2.4 trillion. The breakdown for each DPR member is Rp1.4 billion for official visits outside the recess and outside the session; Rp2.3 billion for official visits during the recess period; Rp242 million for official visits during the recess period or during the session; and Rp150 million for the aspirational house.
"With such a large allowance, the DPR should be able to absorb various aspirations of the people in each constituency," said Siska in a written statement on Monday, August 25, 2025.
– Eka Yudha Saputra and Hussein Abri Dongoran contributed to the writing of this article.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2055653/dasco-refutes-report-of-rp756-million-recess-fund-for-dpr-member