Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - An Indonesian budget watchdog has criticised the National Police for allocating small amounts of money to programmes aimed at maintaining public security and countering public disturbances.
"Of the police's total 43.4 trillion rupiah [US$4.55 billion] 2013 budget, only 1.7 trillion rupiah is allocated for maintaining public security. That's why the police can't do anything during disturbances," Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) coordinator Ucok Sky Khadafi said in Jakarta yesterday.
The watchdog said most of the police's 2013 budget, around 29.7 trillion rupiah, would be spent on staff salaries. The police had allocated 7.6 trillion rupiah to purchase equipment and 5.9 trillion rupiah for additional spending, Antara news agency reported.
Khadafi added the 1.7 trillion rupiah budget for public security was part of the 7.7 trillion rupiah allocated to a traffic safety programme and staff salaries.
"Lawmakers should be critical of the budget proposed by the police. The police needs to increase the budget for programmes aimed at improving public security," he added.
US$1 = 9,565 Indonesian rupiah
