This is a zero-sum game
IN the next three months, National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo will have one important job to do: to sit down with the House of Representatives (DPR) and review the education budget. This follows the decision of the Constitutional Court two weeks ago, which approved the appeal to have Law No. 13/2005 on the 2006 State Budget reviewed. The request came from the Indonesian Association of Teachers (PGRI), the Indonesian Association of Education Academics (ISPI), the Nurani Dunia Foundation and certain individuals from the education sector. They were outraged that the 1 2 percent budget allocation approved by the DPR in July last year came only to 9.1 percent when the State Budget was enacted.
April 4, 2006
Yet, Bambang Sudibyo had repeatedly and publicly declared that the education budget would come to 19.3 percent. So, if the State Budget was set at Rp647 trillion, the sum mentioned by the minister would have been around Rp125 trillion. On paper, however, it was Rp45.2 trillion. Even then, it was to be shared by two departments: the National Education Department, getting Rp36.7 trillion, and Rp8.5 trillion going to the Religious Affairs Department
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