Still Refuses To Reveal The Salaries Of Senior Officials, ACT Just Says There's Been A 70 Percent Deduction

JAKARTA - Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) admits that it has cut salaries and operations for its top officials in an effort to reform and restructure the organization since January 2022.

"Since January 11, 2022, a collective awareness has been created to improve the condition of the institution with input from all branches. We are conducting a basic evaluation," said ACT President Ibnu Khajar at a press conference in Jakarta, Monday, July 4, quoted from Antara.

As quoted from Tempo's investigation report, it was found that ACT's alleged misappropriation of public funds was found. The amount of salary is one of the headlines that makes people question the credibility of the organization.

The report states that the salary of the Chairman of the ACT Board of Trustees is said to have received a salary of around Rp. 250 million. Meanwhile, lower officials such as the Senior Vice President received around Rp. 150 million, the Vice President Rp. 80 million, the executive director Rp. 50 million, and the director Rp. 30 million per month.

Ibnu denied the amount of the salary and did not know anything about the amount that was revealed by the media. However, he was reluctant to reveal the original amount received by ACT officials.

However, he said, there has been a salary cut for senior officials from 50-70 percent of the previous salary since the change of leadership on January 11, 2022.

Regarding the use of community funds for ACT's operations, Ibnu claimed that his organization took 13.7 percent of the funds it had collected. Because, he said, based on sharia, zakat institutions allowed to take one-eighth or 12.5 percent of it for operations.

"Then why take 13.7 percent? Because what we manage is not a zakat institution, moreover what is managed is from general donations from the community, CSR, alms and cooperation with zakat charities," he said.

According to him, the high allocation of operational funds is to cover the distribution of the program. This is because ACT has 78 branches and representatives in more than 47 countries. Nevertheless, he tried to convince the public that ACT had made improvements, which was marked by a change of leadership.

"After the change of leadership, I represent ACT to apologize to the community. We do not turn a blind eye to problems within the institution," he said.