Tangerang City Council cancels Rp675 million uniform budget
The Tangerang City Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) on 11 August cancelled this year’s uniform budget plan for 50 councillors which amounted to a whopping Rp675 million. The plan resulted in severe backlash from the public who accused the council of having no sense of crisis.
The backlash came as no surprise, considering that the council set last year's uniform budget at Rp300 million. Tangerang City DPRD Speaker Gatot Wibowo explained that the increasing budget follows the increasing number of uniforms per councillor from four to five. “The specifications of the items are a bit higher; there is market inflation,” he added.
The budget plan specified that this year's uniforms will be made of materials from high fashion brands: fabrics from “Louis Vuitton” for daily official uniform, Theodoro for daily civil uniform, Lanificio Di Calvino for formal civil uniform and Thomas Crown for full civil uniform.
This move is widely regarded as insensitive as the people are still struggling to survive amidst the second wave of the pandemic. However, Gatot denied claims that the council does not have a sense of crisis. He even said that they have been holding back from procuring take-home vehicles because “the auction coincided with the pandemic in April 2020.”
What does Louis Vuitton fabric mean?
The choice of fabric proposed by the councillors isn’t supplied by Louis Vuitton. Using luxury or well-known brand to name fabric is a common practice among Indonesian fabric suppliers or sellers. It is a strategy to create interest among buyers since fabric are named according to the types. For instance, cotton, polyester, satin or cotton polyester blend.
‘Louis Vuitton fabric’ certainly sounds more interesting than cotton polyester blend.
Naming the fabric Louis Vuitton could also mean the fabric comes from a fabric supplier or manufacturer of Louis Vuitton, although it is highly unlikely. Since the news broke, Louis Vuitton representative has stated it never supplies any piece of clothing to Tangerang City DPRD.