Jakarta. The state palace has maintained its innocence over the accusation that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has misused the presidential plane to campaign on behalf of his Democratic Party.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said the complaints filed to the the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) by some activists and non-government organizations were irrelevant because they ignored the fact that as Indonesia’s president, Yudhoyono was entitled to use the state’s facilities.
“I think it must be understood that there should be an exception for the president,” Julian said Wednesday. “In campaign [law], it is stipulated that it is prohibited for public officials — except for the president — to use the state’s facilities.”
The statement was made in response to reports filed by the Indonesian Civil Circle (LIMA) to Bawaslu that Yudhoyono used the presidential plane to fly to Lampung last week on board the taxpayer-funded aircraft to attend a Democratic campaign event. The central government rents an aircraft from state-run carrier Garuda Indonesia to shuttle Yudhoyono and his entourage across the globe.
Julian also reiterated that Yudhoyono’s activities as the Democratic Party chairman have never violated any campaign regulation, adding that the country’s Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has been scheduled to perform an audit on the party’s campaign expenditures.
“One cannot simply assume that the state money has been used — Yudhoyono’s position as the party’s chairman cannot be separated from his title as the president, and the state has the obligation to protect him,” he said.
As the president, Julian said, Yudhoyono was also entitled to other privileges, including health facilities and an official protocolar system that follows him everywhere he goes.
The debate over this the alleged misuse of state funds heated up when Bawaslu’s chairman, Muhammad, defended Yudhoyono and said he should be allowed to use the aircraft in his capacity as the nation’s leader.
A spokesman for the People’s Synergy for Democracy, Said Salahuddin, said Indonesia’s Elections Law specifies that the only state assets allowed to be utilized by the president during the political campaign season was his security detail and that his flying the plane to Lampung for a campaign rally should be classified as a violation.
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ngos-accuse-sby-misusing-state-plane...
