House questions the use of the coal fund by the government
Friday, October 27 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The House of Representatives' Commission VIII dealing with energy and mining is demanding the government's explanation on the use of the coal fund, suspecting that the fund had been used to finance the purchase of a property in Jakarta and a number of vehicles - far from the objective of the establishment of the coal fund.
The Commission VIII chairman Irwan Prayitno said that former minister of mines and energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised in a hearing with the commission in June that the government would soon give a report to the commission about the use of the coal fund.
"But up until now, the report has not been sent to us. Therefore, we will question it again because the use and the status of the fund has never been clear to us," Irwan said.
In the hearing in June, it was legislator Husni Thamrin that demanded the government to clarify the use of the coal fund. Husni noted that the information he got indicated that the fund had been used to buy a property in Jakarta a number of vehicles - far from the objective of the establishment of the coal fund, namely to finance research and development of coal in Indonesia.
Irwan repeated Husni's concerns and called on the government to soon clarify the problem. "This needs to be explained by the government. We don't want this fund is misused."
In the beginning, the government entrusted state coal miner Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam to manage the government's portion of coal income - namely funds collected from 13.5 percent of coal sales by all coal contractors.
However, because of mismanagement by Bukit Asam, the government in 1996 ordered Bukit Asam to return the remaining fund to the government through the then Ministry of Mines and Energy. The ministry then transferred the fund to the Ministry of Finance.
In an effort to support local autonomy, Irwan suggested that the government return the fund to districts that have coal mining operation so that the district could improve the handling and supervision of coal mining in their respective areas. (*)