DPR Members' High Salaries Not in Line with Performance: Legislative Watchdog
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16 September 2021 17:28 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Researcher from the legislative watchdog Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi), Lucius Karus, said the high salaries of the House of Representatives (DPR) members were not in line with their performance.
“The fantastic amount of their income actually spoils them so that their performances are always poor and bad,” Lucius told Tempo on Thursday, September 16.
He opined that the work performance of legislators in the current period was poor. During the first two years of their term, they only passed four priority bills. These results, Lucius added, were too poor when compared to the high salaries and benefits they received.
Additionally, he assessed that the monitoring function of parliamentarians was also sluggish. In fact, the budget function was almost fully led by the government that was responsive to restructure the budget in the wake of the pandemic. “The DPR did not contribute thoughts for the budget restructuring,” he said.
The salary of DPR members, he opined, should be determined based on performance. Poor performance means less income, Lucius added.
However, he acknowledged that the idea of lessening the budget for DPR members’ salaries and allowances was not easy given that the DPR’s power is needed by the president and the government in many ways. “This is also why regulations on salaries and allowances of state officials, including DPR, have not been changed since 1980,” he said.
High salaries of DPR members have recently become the public spotlight after legislator Krisdayanti revealed the amount in a talk show with former legislator Akbar Faizal on the latter’s YouTube channel.
Read: New Capital City Bill Discussin Finished; Submission to DPR to Follow.
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