Executives took part in misuse: Ahok
Dewanti
A. Wardhani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Wed, March 04 2015, 6:40
AM

Governor
Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has acknowledged that several of his subordinates
in the Jakarta administration have long been involved in the misuse of the city
budget.
Speaking to reporters at City Hall in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, Ahok said
that he knew city councilors were not the only perpetrators behind
irregularities in the city budget. Agency heads and staffers within the city
administration, he said, also took part.
“In 2014, I found many irregularities in the city budget. For example, there
were allocations for things that were never brought up during meetings, for
example in the Education Agency. So what did I do? I demoted the agency’s head
and replaced him with Pak Lasro Marbun,” Ahok said.
At the time, Taufik Yudi Mulyanto was head of the Education Agency. Taufik was
moved to the Governor’s Team for Development Supervision (TGUPP) early in 2014
and replaced by Lasro Marbun, now head of the Jakarta Inspectorate, who had
“saved” more than Rp 1 trillion (US$76.9 million) not long after his
inauguration as Education Agency head.
“[Taufik] was one of the big ‘players’ in the [education] agency. Pak Lasro had
saved trillions in dubious allocations, which is one of the reasons why last year
we had the largest unused budget,” Ahok said.
Last year’s unused budget was Rp 6.47 trillion from the total budget of Rp 72.8
quintillion.
Taufik could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
“I also demoted [I Dewa Gede] Sony, who headed the ULP [Goods and Services
Procurement Agency]. He was promoted last October and I demoted him in January
because I knew he was involved. We’re still looking for other people who were
or are involved; if they are officials, they will be demoted; if they are
staffers, they will not receive allowances,” he said.
Last week, Ahok revealed that in the 2014 city budget, there was more than Rp
280 billion allocated to procure uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for
computers in 49 senior high schools in West and Central Jakarta.
Lasro, on the other hand, acknowledged that he had missed the dubious
allocations, and said that the allocations were made by sub-agencies in
municipalities, which have different budget documents from the central agency,
but denied that he was involved.
“Agency heads do not supervise allocations made in sub-agencies because we have
different documents,” Lasro told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday at City Hall.
Despite orders from the parties’ central board to cancel their votes, the
NasDem Party and United Development Party (PPP) factions have yet to retract
their right of inquiry. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and
the National Awakening Party (PKB) factions also still seems firm with their
decision, despite rumors of backtracking.
The City Council has hired its own lawyer, Razman Arif, who previously
represented Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in his graft case and former Transportation
Agency head Udar Pristono in the faulty Transjakarta bus procurement case. Udar
is among former Jakarta agency heads who have been named suspects in
procurement cases, along with former Sanitation Agency head Eko Bharuna, who
was named a suspect in a portable toilet procurement case.
On Tuesday, dozens of residents went to City Hall to voice their support for
Ahok and urged that he “keep fighting for the people”. Ahok took the
opportunity to apologize to Jakartans for causing trouble with his feud with
the City Council.
“I apologize to the people of Jakarta for this dispute. I assure you that all
of our services will not be disturbed. But please know that this is not about
Ahok versus the City Council; this is about fighting for transparency,” Ahok
said.
Based on my opinion this news is
accurate. It provides the proof from the source persons that had been gained by
the reporters. It is also balanced, fair and objective because the writer here
does not support certain side and it is according to current fact that happen
right now. It is also clear and concise without reducing the important
information.