The Jember COVID-19 Special Committee Calls The Head Of BPBD About The Funeral Honors Which Are Now Being Investigated By The Police

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JEMBER - The Jember DPRD's COVID-19 Special Committee, East Java summoned the Acting Head of the Jember Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) M. Djamil and the Head of the Logitisk Emergency Department Penta Satria regarding the funeral fees for the COVID-19 corpse.

"We ask the BPBD to explain the budget regulations related to the funeral fees for COVID-19 bodies," said Deputy Chair of the Jember DPRD, Ahmad Halim, who chaired the hearing at the Jember DPRD building, quoted by Antara, Thursday, September 2.

The summons was the result of the polemic of disbursing the funeral honorarium for the COVID-19 corpse to a number of top officials, including the Regent of Jember, Hendy Siswanto, who had become the talk of many parties.

Djamil was reluctant to provide the requested explanation to members of the COVID-19 Special Committee because he thought the case had entered the realm of law being handled by the Jember Police.

"What has been viral so far has been included in the legal process, therefore we must respect the process and we cannot convey it in such a forum," he said.

He admitted that he was worried that there were materials that intersect with those being processed in the legal realm, so that his party could not convey it in the COVID-19 Special Committee forum.

"Secondly, there is an administrative process in the form of a 'review' and so on, which also coincides with the existing legal process, so that we are preparing materials and so on which may later provide support for the ongoing process," he said.

His party is compiling a description of the emergency that must be carried out in a situation that is also an emergency which is meant when carrying out the mandate as the Acting Head of the Jember BPBD on March 12, 2021.

"Everyone of course remembers that at that time we did not have a APBD and we did not have a single link to use the budget to carry out a community service in emergency affairs during an emergency," he said.

In its efforts to manage state and regional finances, it is based on Law Number 1 of 2004 concerning the State Treasury.

"In the law it is very clear that the authority regarding the implementation of the APBD is in the hands of the authoritarian, namely the regent, not in the hands of the OPD head," he said.

Moreover, with the status of implementing the task of the head who only has the authority to implement the budget implementation document (DPA) and before there was a DPA, this authority cannot be exercised at all.

"In Law Number 32 of 2014 concerning Government Administration Law, a discretionary function is needed. The discretionary function is limited to authorized officials and in this case regional heads, not others," he said.

He explained that this could be a common reference to understand the existing problems and the existing regulations were formulated into policies that had their own consequences.

Previously, the Jember Police carried out an investigation into the budget for funeral fees for COVID-19 corpses and summoned seven witnesses for questioning.