TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi and deputy speaker Triwisaksana met with Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama to clarify the governor’s plans to remove the “stealth budget” for programs proposed by the DPRD.
“Actually, it was not about the [budget] removal. It was just to clarify the rumors spreading in the media,” Prasetyo said after meeting Ahok at the City Hall on Monday, January 19, 2015, claiming that the “stealth budget” was only miscommunication.
Prasetyo also clarified Ahok’s recent statement that some individuals at the council had proposed unreasonable programs. He explained there were no such individuals at the council.
Triwisaksana said that the miscommunication was related to the provincial budget priorities and preliminary thresholds (KUA-PPAS) that were translated into the provincial Budget Plan for 2015. The KUA-PPAS was corrected three times from Rp79 trillion (US$6.5 billion) to Rp73 trillion (US$6 billion).
The council, Triwisaksana said, could only propose programs that would benefit the public. Triwisaksana also explained that the proposals made by the council were subjected to the Government Regulation Number 16/2010 on the council’s code of conduct. Triwisaksana added that the city council could propose programs to the working units, but the government has the right to reject them.
ERWAN HERMAWAN
