Cotton buds, piggy banks and cheeks for legislators<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Apart from tense debate inside the People's Consultative
\nAssembly's commodious convention hall over burning state issues,
\nit was a bundle of laughs outside.<\/p>\n
The main unofficial event was a \"ceremony\" where NGO activists
\npresented easygoing legislators with a box of cotton buds, a mock
\ncheck and a piggy bank.<\/p>\n
The gifts were intended to mock politicians, who the activists
\nsaid \"do not listen to what the common people say, accept bribes
\nand waste the taxpayers' money\".<\/p>\n
The \"check\" carried the instruction: \"a legal bribe instrument
\nat the legislature\".<\/p>\n
Just a day earlier, two activists were briefly detained at
\ncity police headquarters on charges of \"disturbing\" legislators
\nby handing them cotton buds to clean their ears before attending
\nsessions.<\/p>\n
Fikri Thalib from the Interest Group was the first legislator
\nto receive a package from Vincent, an activist from the
\ncoalition, on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"This is proof that people care about the Assembly,\" said
\nLukman Hakim from the United Development Party (PPP) after
\nreceiving his Assembly survival kit.<\/p>\n
Two other legislators to accept the gifts were Baharuddin
\nAritonang from the Golkar Party and Dwi Ria Latifa from the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).<\/p>\n
Nia Sjarifudin of the Women's Solidarity group, coordinator of
\nthe ceremony, said the cotton buds were \"strong enough to clean
\nthe ears of lawmakers\".<\/p>\n
She added that the items were distributed because the
\nactivists were disappointed with the legislators' reluctance to
\nlisten to what the public wanted.<\/p>\n
The coalition of NGOs said that the deliberation process in
\nthe Assembly did not reflect the interests of the people, but was
\ninstead leading to political conspiracy.<\/p>\n
No police officers intervened in the event, which attracted a
\nlarge crowd.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cotton-buds-piggy-banks-and-cheeks-for-legislators-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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