The Jakarta Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) is once again asking for an increase in the provincial government’s budget to cover their operational costs, this time requesting that the Jakarta Regional Budget (APBD) cover the salary of personal assistants for every single one of the 106 councillors.
In the current arrangement, a Jakarta councillor is allowed to have a personal assistant aid in their daily operations provided that they are paid out of the councillor’s own pocket. During a parliament session yesterday, five fractions from Gerindra, Demokrat, PAN, PKS, and PKB political parties united in submitting a motion to have the city, or, in other words, the taxpayers, pay for their personal assistants’ salaries.
“To improve the DPRD’s working ability, we believe it’s necessary for every member of the council to each have their own personal assistant whereby the facility and budget is provided by the DPRD secretariat,” said councilor Achmad Nawawi, who represents a coalition of Demokrat and PAN, as quoted during the session by Viva yesterday.
“In addition, the Jakarta regional cash flow is deemed sufficient to (justify) paying for their salaries,” chimed in Gerindra representative Rina Aditya Sartika.
Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat refused to meet the DPRD’s demand, saying that the city’s budget should go towards more pressing needs.
“If every councilor has a personal assistant, what is their function? That means we’ll have to add 106 (personal assistants),” Djarot said yesterday, as quoted by Viva.
“Jakarta may be able to afford it, but we return most of the money towards programs for those who need it more, like citizens who need subsidies for education, health, transportation, accommodation. I think they should review this, think things through carefully.”
This isn’t the first time the Jakarta DPRD is demanding that taxpayers pay for things many deem they don’t need. Last year, when former Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama went on a legally mandated election campaign leave, the acting governor and the DPRD agreed on a draft to increase the latter’s allowance so that they can pay for their drivers’ salaries among other things.
Then, in 2015, the DPRD requested for Rp 1.6 billion in the budget to buy each of them laptops so they can “take notes during meetings.”
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