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BIN budget cuts to jeopardize regional election security, says spy chief
Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2015
Agency chief Sutiyoso took the matter to the House of Representatives on Thursday as he discussed preparations for the simultaneous regional elections in December and other security concerns. Sutiyoso said the budget cut would severely impact the performance of the agency known as the BIN.
"If it is cut then our programs will not be achieved," he said as quoted by Detik.com.
Sutiyoso said the government's state budget proposal for next year, submitted to the House for deliberation in July, would slash the BIN's budget from Rp 2.6 trillion ($183 million) this year to just under Rp 1.6 trillion in 2016.
The former Army general said he hoped the House would be able to convince the government to reverse the planned budget cut. "We are at the forefront of the nation's security. But we have so little in terms of a budget and now it's up for another cut," he said.
Shortly after he was inaugurated in July, Sutiyoso – the head of one of the parties in President Joko Widodo's coalition during last year's election – said he would increase the number of agents around the country in anticipation of potential conflicts during the upcoming regional elections.
Sutiyoso said the agency would cooperate with the Home Affairs Ministry to run the recruitment process and to implement the new program, which he called a "local intelligence network."
The plan is highly controversial, given the BIN's checkered record on human rights and alleged role in spying on government critics and student groups under Suharto's New Order regime, as well as its purported involvement in the murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib in 2004.
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