Refleksi : US$ 18 juta untuk ongkos perjalanan presiden ini termauk paling murah sebab nginapnya bukan di hotel bebintang 5, tetapi di kelas tak ada bintangnya. Hehehehe
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/sby-blames-spike-in-summits-for-18-million-travel-budget/388529 July 29, 2010 Camelia Pasandaran SBY Blames Spike in Summits For $18 Million Travel Budget Jakarta. Apparently bruised by accusations he was spending too much taxpayer money on trips overseas, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday defended his travel, even as he said he had already reduced his number of foreign and local trips. "In regard to the presidential overseas trips, the difference is that compared to the old times, the obligation of the president to attend summits has increased," Yudhoyono said. He added that in the past, the summits for the Association for Southeast Asian Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation were held just once a year. "Now, it has turned to five. Two Asean summits including the East Asia summit, and once for the APEC summit. And twice as well for the G-20 summit," Yudhoyono said, adding that considering the number of summits he had to attend, he himself could not afford to go abroad too often. "There were at least three summits which I did not attend, despite the fact that many heads of nations attended those summits. For instance, the Washington DC nuclear security summit that was attended by Vice President [Boediono] and the Nigerian summit, which was attended by Coordinating Minister for the Economy [Hatta Rajasa]." The House recently requested Yudhoyono be more selective in visiting other countries to prevent the impression that he was wasting state money. He is also required to outline the results and the benefits of each visit. Some House members said the travel budgets should be made accessible to the public. The request came after the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency released a report that the president budgeted Rp 162 billion ($18 million) yearly for foreign trips during the period of 2005 to 2009. The amount is higher in comparison to the former presidents Megawati Sukarnoputri and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, whose travel budgets were below Rp 50 billion yearly. However, Yudhoyono said that starting in 2005, his entourage had been cut down by 15 percent. "We also stopped the usage of the state budget for personal expenses," Yudhoyono said. "This is also related to my expectation from [ministers]. The state budget should not be used for personal needs such as outfits because the amount might be very big." Related articles Indonesia's President Threatens to Punish Underperforming Regional Heads 11:42 PM 29/07/2010 SBY Appearance Ends With Another Embarrassed Child 12:43 AM 27/07/2010 Indonesia to Seek Compensation over Timor Sea Oil Spill Disaster 1:52 PM 22/07/2010 SBY Should Heed Some Home Trut [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
