'Foreign-trip fever' strikes councillors<\/p>\n
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
Overseas trips have reached epidemic proportions in the East Java
\nprovincial legislative council with many councillors having
\naccepted invitations from the provincial administration to
\nundertake \"comparative studies\" abroad.<\/p>\n
Seven members of the legislative council's Commission E on
\nsocial welfare are planning their fifth foreign trip to conduct
\ncomparative studies, this time in Hong Kong and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Harbiah Salahuddin, a member of the commission, said she along
\nwith six other councillors would travel to the two countries to
\nlearn first hand how Indonesian migrant workers were treated in
\nHong Kong, and how the Philippines had managed to speed up its
\nlabor export procedures.<\/p>\n
\"The comparative study is needed because the majority of
\nIndonesian workers employed overseas are from the province (East
\nJava),\" she said.<\/p>\n
She declined to reveal the amount of funds that had been
\nallocated by the provincial legislature for the trip.<\/p>\n
Saleh Ismail Mukadar, a member of the council's Commission A
\non public administration, also revealed that his commission was
\nplanning an overseas trip to conduct comparative studies on
\nadministrative practices in a number of countries.<\/p>\n
\"Many invitations for foreign trips from the executive have
\nreached our commission, but we have accepted only this one
\nbecause it is considered quite important for our efforts to
\ndevelop democracy in the local administration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The council also discussed recently the provincial
\nadministration's invitations for three comparative studies to
\nAustralia, the Netherlands, and several Southeast Asian countries
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
Lutfillah Masduki, another member of the commission, admitted
\nthat \"foreign-trip fever\" had the councillors in thrall. He said
\nthat many members of the council had already undertaken similar
\nmissions to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, but that
\nso far no steps had been taken to improve labor conditions in the
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
\"Numerous groups of legislators have used the excuse of
\ncomparative studies in various countries as opportunities to go
\non junkets and have a good time at the state's expense, while all
\nthe time ignoring the numerous problems facing the province,\" he
\nsaid, adding that the funds spent on foreign trips actually
\nbelonged to the people.<\/p>\n
An alliance of 18 non-governmental organizations have filed a
\nclass action suit against a number of councillors who went on
\ncomparative studies to Batam, Singapore and Malaysia earlier this
\nyear as the trips were considered to have been a waste of
\ntaxpayers' money.<\/p>\n
Ismail Saleh Mukadar, also a councillor, said that he along
\nwith other members of the council were trying to reject the
\ninvitations as too many councillors had made too many foreign
\ntrips for comparative study purposes this year.<\/p>\n
\"If the invitations have to be accepted, then the trips should
\nbe taken next year,\" he said, warning that despite the
\ninvitations, the legislative council still had to chip in, at
\nleast as far as councillors' expenses while abroad were
\nconcerned.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/foreign-trip-fever-strikes-councillors-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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