REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Efforts to intervene to settle the conflict between the governor of Jakarta and the Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD) on Thursday failed.

This clash between Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, and the DPRD arose over the 2015 draft budget, which was sponsored by the Home Affairs Ministry.

"I led the meeting and later ended it because the two parties (Ahok and the DPRD) stuck to their own explanations," Secretary General of the Home Affairs Ministry Yuswandi Tumenggung told newsmen.

He, however, denied that the closed-door meeting was deadlocked. "It was not deadlocked as no decision has been arrived at yet," he explained.

Before the meeting ended, shouts were heard from within the meeting room, which Tumenggung admitted were the raised voices of the parties involved.

Moreover, Director General of Regional Finances of the Home Affairs Ministry Reydonnyzar Moenek affirmed that he would continue to push for a dialog between the DPRD and Ahok.

If no settlement is reached until the March 13 deadline, the ministry will make a decision to ensure that the regional budget (APBD) issue is not drawn into the political dynamic, he remarked.

"If no agreement is reached, the Ministry of Home Affairs will take over the case.

Applying the 2014 budget ceiling, which emerged during the revised budget, will be the last resort. However, they must come to a solution because, in essence, the APBD should not be pulled into the political dynamic as all programs must be implemented," Moenek noted.

The ongoing tensions between the governor of Jakarta and the DPRD emerged after Purnama submitted a draft budget to the ministry without the signatures of the DPRD members.

The DPRD equated the submission of the budget, which was based on an electronic budgeting system, to a mystery letter. As a result, it decided to implement its investigation right to probe whether the governor had violated laws.

Furthermore, Ahok emphasized that he had been right to submit the e-budget without the signatures of the DPRD members. He added that he had deliberately decided to not ask for the DPRD's approval so that the budget allocation he called "invisible" for procuring uninterruptible power units worth Rp12.1 trillion, which he had already scrapped, would not reappear.

Ahok has reported this invisible budget allocation to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

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