September 23, 2014 edition

AS soon as he takes charge of the new government, president-elect Joko Widodo will have little choice but to reduce spending. One way would be to cut back the huge budget for official travel. Such an endeavor would not only salvage state funds, it might just reform the bureaucracy.
Total spending on official travel by the central government has been allocated at Rp35 trillion. This figure, which is included in the proposed 2015 State Budget, is around 30 percent higher than that of the previous year. It includes Rp11 trillion for meetings out of town, but excludes the Rp38 trillion allocated for overseas travel.

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More Opinion articles in other editions

September 16, 2014 edition

ONE month and 14 days in prison is what the prosecutor asked for A Sia, a Pontianak businessman charged with smuggling 697,085 tons of sugar. If the judges agree, in just six weeks, A Sia will be released from prison. And the bet is that this 'sugar king' will undoubtedly go back to smuggling sugar. It is certainly a slap in the face for law enforcement officials.
The sentence demanded by West Kalimantan prosecutor Eggi Prabudi, is indeed excessively light, given the seriousness of A Sia's crime: violating Law No. 8/1999 on Consumer Protection, which calls for a maximum of five years in jail or a fine of Rp2 billion. Had the prosecutor been more serious in exercising his legal duty, A Sia would be charged with breaking Law No. 7/1996 on Food and sentenced to a maximum five years in prison or a fine of Rp10 billion.

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September 9, 2014 edition

WE often hear the saying that a dirty house cannot be cleaned with a soiled broom. But in the case of Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Idha Endri Prastiono and Brig. M.P. Harahap who were recently arrested on drug charges, another Indonesian proverb would be more applicable: the fence stole the land it should be protecting.
The two officers were arrested by the Malaysian police in Kuching, Sarawak on suspicion of being members of an international narcotics ring. The Malaysian police had already detained Chusi, a Filipina believed to be acting as a courier. This network is suspected of controlling the distribution of drugs coming out of Africa. West Kalimantan and Sarawak share a porous border that allows easy illegal crossings.

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January 1, 1970 edition

It is truly regrettable that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono lacked the courage to raise the price of fuel when he met with president-elect Joko Widodo in Bali last Wednesday. It would have provided the impetus to reduce the burden on state finances had the soon-to-be ex-president had the courage to raise subsidized fuel prices. This lack of resolution at the end of his term will leave a negative and unpopular impression on the public.
Since the 1997-1998 financial crisis, the huge fuel subsidies have been a time bomb for successive administrations. These subsidies have continued to rise, as have the allocations of subsidized fuel if the quotas have been insufficient. In the 2014 State Budget, around 13.3 percent, or Rp246.49 trillion, was set aside for fuel subsidies. In the budget the Yudhoyono administration proposed to the House of Representatives (DPR) on August 15, the total burden of fuel subsidies is Rp291.1 trillion, or 14.4 percent of total spending, and this is on top of the Rp50 trillion in subsidies from the previous administration.

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August 26, 2014 edition

WE should ignore any complaints from presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto following the ruling by athe Constitutional Court. Now is the time to think about other, more useful things. Anybody of sound mind could begin by trying to reconcile the two opposing sides in order to reduce the political temperature.
This does not mean that the right of Prabowo and his supporters to continue searching for 'justice' should be obstructed. In this state based on the rule of law, everyone is free to follow their own path as long as it is the right one. But what would be the point in, for example, continuing the 'struggle' by challenging the General Elections Commission's (KPU) decision at the State Administrative Court, as that court-according to law-has no authority to examine electoral disputes at the center or in the regions?

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August 19, 2014 edition

The management of state-owned company Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) should not be complacent after all the praises heaped on them. As the major organizer of Lebaran transportation this year, they can be said to have succeeded. Travelers opting to go home by train increased manifold, yet the company can claim to have had a zero-accident record in terms of passenger safety.
The same can be said of booking tickets. With marketing networks established at mini-markets and through online services, travelers were able to get transparent and fair deals. The usual long queues drastically declined with the setup of self-purchasing ticket machines. These new measures benefited KAI which saw its capacity during this Lebaran rise to 12 percent.

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August 12, 2014 edition

JOKO Widodo's breakthrough in establishing a transition team to prepare for the new government is commendable. This entity is seen as important, to ensure that the president-elect and his deputy, Jusuf Kalla, will be able to hit the ground running following their inauguration in October. But he faces a tough challenge during this transition period: forming the best cabinet to implement the programs that were promised during the campaign.
Jokowi should not worry about discordant views-especially those from the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa camp-charging that forming this transition team is unethical, given that the result of the presidential election is still being challenged at the Constitutional Court. With no intention to undermine the ongoing legal process, Jokowi and Kalla have the right to establish a team to consolidate their work program.

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