House speaker blasts lazy legislators<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
In response to public criticism over the lack of discipline
\namong legislators, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
\nTandjung on Monday urged the lawmakers to abide by all existing
\nregulations by participating in all House meetings.<\/p>\n
Akbar reminded all legislators about the internal regulations,
\nwhich were revised in October last year in a bid to improve
\ndiscipline.<\/p>\n
\"The physical presence of legislators needs to increase due to
\nthe increasing number of tasks,\" Akbar said in his speech at a
\nplenary meeting, marking the opening of the House session after a
\none-month recess period.<\/p>\n
The message was unveiled a week after the media reported a
\nlist of \"lazy legislators\" obtained from the House secretariat.<\/p>\n
Ironically, many legislators missed Akbar's speech because
\nthey were absent during Monday's plenary meeting. Only 258 out of
\nthe 488 legislators attended the meeting on Monday, and that
\nafter half an hour delay while waiting for enough members to
\narrive in order to make a quorum.<\/p>\n
Responding to criticism from the media, Isaac Latuconsina of
\nthe military and police faction called on the secretariat-general
\nto give clearer explanations to reporters by giving the reasons
\nfor the absences.<\/p>\n
\"I was absent from the House because I had to join a course at
\nLemhanas (National Resilience Institute) for two months,\" he
\nargued.<\/p>\n
Fellow legislator Slamet Supriyadi wondered if the journalists
\nhad misquoted the secretariat-general, or if they had been given
\nfalse information.<\/p>\n
Aisyah Aminy of the United Development Party (PPP) criticized
\nher own faction which had permitted its members to avoid any
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
\"I hope the faction will, in the future, no longer give any
\npermits to its members to shun meetings for a period of two to
\nthree months,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Legislators have shown a tendency to be near 100 percent
\npresent when it comes to planning an overseas trip.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-speaker-blasts-lazy-legislators-1447893297",
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