JEMBER - The Regent of Jember Hendy Siswanto and a number of officials within the Jember Regency Government, namely the regional secretary, the Acting Head of BPBD to the Head of the Emergency Logistics Division of the BPBD, reportedly received honoraria as a team for the funeral of the bodies of COVID-19 patients.
The honorarium received by each official was Rp. 70 million, more than a total of 705 funerals or the number of Jember residents who died due to COVID-19 based on the account code 5.1,0204,01,0003 in June 2021, so that the total budget issued for the four officials reached IDR 282 million.
"We regret the funeral fees given to officials from the Jember Regency Government," said member of the Special Committee for COVID-19 Hadi Supaat in Jember, Friday, August 27.
According to him, it is unethical for officials to receive honoraria in the midst of the suffering of the community, especially since the honorarium is from the funeral of a confirmed COVID-19 patient who died in Jember Regency.
"We have never received the decision letter (SK) related to the structure of the COVID-19 funeral service, but it is true that there is an honorarium for volunteer officers who help with COVID-19 funerals," he said.
Meanwhile, the Regent of Jember, Hendy Siswanto, acknowledged the honorarium. Hendy admitted that the honorarium for regents and officials has become a regulation. Because these officials carry out the function of monitoring and evaluation (monev) even beyond working hours.
"It is true that I received the honorarium in our capacity as a monitoring and evaluation team," he said.
The Regent of Jember emphasized that the honorarium was directly donated to residents whose families died due to COVID-19.
"Like my salary, I donate to the poor who have been affected by the pandemic," he said.
He said the honorarium received was Rp. 100,000 for each funeral.
There is also an honorarium that reaches Rp. 70 million because in June to July there were many cases of death due to COVID-19.
"But we don't expect a large number. Because if that's the case, it means that a lot of people died. We don't want that to happen," he said.
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