Again, Budget Meeting In Puncak Bogor, DKI DPRD: We Are Looking For Peace

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta DPRD again held a meeting at Grand Cempaka Resort, Puncak, Bogor, West Java today. The meeting discussed the General Budget Policy and the Provisional Budget Priority Ceiling (KUA-PPAS) APBD for the 2021 Fiscal Year.

The DPRD's discussion of the budget outside the city has drawn criticism. Member of the DKI DPRD Budget Agency, Gembong Warsono, admitted that he was aware of the criticism.

However, Gembong claimed that discussing the budget outside Jakarta was indeed needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, discussing the budget needed calm from worries about the risk of transmission of the corona virus.

"Our consideration at the summit meeting is to maintain the calm of Banggar Members to discuss the 2021 APBD. Because, indeed, Jakarta is still a fairly high covid cluster. So, to focus, we will hold discussions there," said Gembong to VOI, Wednesday, November 4.

Actually, there is another option, namely holding meetings virtually using the internet network. However, said Gembong, the implementation of virtual meetings was deemed ineffective. "The budget discussion needs to be face-to-face. That's why we hold it in Puncak," he said.

Gembong said, the meeting today was attended by 53 DPRD members who are also members of the Budget Agency, including the Chairperson of the DKI DPRD.

In addition, there were also officials from the DKI Provincial Government, namely the Acting Regional Secretary, DKI Assistant Secretaries, Inspectors, Regional Development Planning Agencies, BPKD, BPRD, BPAD, and BPLBJ DKI.

"Those who attended the meeting at Grand Cempaka were members of the Budget Agency, plus about 15 people from the Regional Government Budget Team (TAPD) of the DKI Provincial Government. So, around 70 people," said Gembong.

Previously, the DPRD held a meeting to discuss changes to the 2020 APBD at Grand Cempaka Resort, Puncak, Bogor on October 21. The DPRD claims that the provisions on the location of this meeting can be tolerated. This is because the COVID-19 pandemic requires the DPRD to reduce the number of meeting participants by 50 percent from normal capacity.

However, this was criticized by the Secretary General of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), Misbah Hasan. Misbah suspects that there are other indications that the discussion of budget changes to take place outside the DKI DPRD Building. One of the allegations is that budget absorption can increase.

"By discussing the amended APBD outside the city, there are consequences for official travel budgets, accommodation, lodging, and honoraria. I am not sure about the reasons for preventing COVID-19," said Misbah.

In addition, the Director of the Indonesian Legislative Monitoring Committee (KOPEL), Anwar Razak, assessed that budget discussions outside Jakarta are prone to 'stealth' budgets or budgets that are deliberately hidden from the public.

"This action is an act that wastes the budget. In fact, this is closely related to public participation and supervision of the Jakarta people, which should be given as widely as possible," he said.