JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The House of Representatives (DPR), in its plenary session on Tuesday (June 23), has passed the proposal on increasing the so-called aspiration fund to Rp11.2 trillion per year to all 560 lawmakers in the 2016 State budget draft (R-APBN). Under the proposal, every lawmaker will get Rp20 billion per year.
The House passed the proposal after majority of factions of political parties in the DPR supported the proposal. Those seven factions that supported said proposal are Gerindra, Golkar, Democratic Party, PKS, PAN, PKB, and PPP.
Interestingly, the Democratic Party eventually opted to jump ship to support the proposal of the aspiration fund despite its party chairman, Sixth President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), delivered his rejection to said proposal through his personal Twitter account @sbyuhoyono.
Three other factions, meanwhile, rejected the proposal. They are PDI-P, Nasdem, and Hanura. These three factions are three among four members of Jokowi-Kalla’s ruling coalition.
That said, the aspiration fund will have to get approval from the Jokowi-Kalla administration first before it will be allocated in the next year state budget. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.com)