Indonesian MPs receive extra allowances weeks after angry protests because of the benefits

Weeks after the widespread protests swept Indonesia due to excessive salaries of lawmakers, a new increase in the allowance unleashed fresh public anger.

Legislators will now receive 702 million rupees ($ 42,400; 31,800 British pounds) in benefits – an almost double increase from the previous allowance of 400 million rupees, said the deputy chairman of the country’s home.

Holiday assistance aims to support the legislators performing their official duties as a visit to voters when parliament is not in a meeting.

The protests earlier in August were caused mainly by monthly housing allowances of $ 3,000, provided to legislators -almost 10 times the bigger than the minimum wage in Jakarta. Later, they were cut off in an attempt to suppress anger.

August protests began after thousands demonstrated against residential allowances for MPs. But they soon spilled into a broader protest about corruption and economic inequality in the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

And now, the news of the last increase in the holiday allowance – which began on October 3 – renewed disputes about it.

Indonesian MPs take about five indentations a year, during which they visit their constituencies and collect feedback from residents.

The hike in the holiday allowances aims to match the increased activities of lawmakers during their recesses, Soufmi Dasko Ahmad told reporters on Saturday. He told Reuters that the previous allowance did not take into account the increase in food and transport prices.

Dasco also said on Monday that the House of Representatives will release a publicly available application, where legislators are required to report their costs for resting funds to allow Indonesians to monitor their costs.

It is not unheard of legislators in other countries to receive allowances on their basic salaries in order to cover their official duties to their voters. In Australia, the electorate allowance varies from $ 25,000 to $ 37,000 a year, depending on the amount of the legislator’s electoral area.

The last incident is part of the growing anger about what many Indonesians perceive as impunity to the country’s political elite.

“It is as if the Indonesians were full,” Lucius Carr, a non -profit parliamentary guard, told local media reports.

“We were pleased with the removal of the housing allowance … But another fantastic help appeared.”

Part of this anger also stems from reports that a number of legislators have received an additional 54 million Rupees in rest benefits. Later, the authorities stated that this was due to a human mistake and that the money had been raised back.

“(Government’s behavior) is not surprising,” wrote another X. “What is surprising is why the Indonesians still want to choose them.”