Officials blame each other over foreign trips<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council and city administration blamed
\neach other on Tuesday for the ineffectiveness of the councillors'
\nforeign trips following recent "complaint" letters from
\nIndonesian consulates.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the council Edy Waluyo accused the city
\nadministration's intercity cooperation office, which arranges the
\nforeign trips, as the cause for the ineffectiveness of the trips.<\/p>\n
"Since they are government to government visits, they should
\nbe handled by the intercity cooperation office. That's why we did
\nnot make any preparation for the trips," Edy said.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the office did not make an effort to contact
\nthe consulates long before the councillors embarked on the trips.<\/p>\n
He said since the office only gave the consulates a short
\nnotice, the latter could not arrange meetings between the
\ncouncillors and the local officials concerned.<\/p>\n
But although the trips have been criticized by the public, Edy
\nrefused to cancel them, saying they had already been arranged.<\/p>\n
He promised better preparation for future comparative studies.<\/p>\n
He claimed several councillors of the council's Commission A
\nfor legal and administrative affairs who departed for Tokyo on
\nSunday had been preparing for the trip since two months ago.<\/p>\n
"In future, we will be more transparent regarding the trips'
\nobjectives and inform the media on their results," Edy said.<\/p>\n
The city administration had received last week letters from
\nthe Los Angeles and Madrid consulates saying the councillors'
\nvisits were not effective due to a lack of preparation.<\/p>\n
Due to their failure to meet local officials concerned, the
\ncouncillors apparently spend their time visiting tourist
\ndestinations in the two cities last month.<\/p>\n
Separately, city administration spokesman Muhayat denied that
\nthe city's intercity cooperation office was to blame for the
\nineffectiveness of the trips.<\/p>\n
"The council only gives the office a short notice, about a
\nweek before the councillors are to go abroad. So the office
\ncannot make adequate preparations. As we were pressed for time,
\nwe can only inform the consulates about the councillors' trips,"
\nMuhayat said.<\/p>\n
He said the council ought to notify the office one month
\nbefore the councillors went abroad, thereby giving the office
\nenough time to make the necessary preparations.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a city administration official who requested
\nanonymity, questioned the council's effort to defend the
\nexistence of the intercity cooperation office.<\/p>\n
The official said, in the draft bylaw of the city
\nadministration's new structural organization, the administration
\nhad proposed the office be closed for efficiency reasons.<\/p>\n
"Why don't the councillors want the office closed if they are
\nblaming it for the trips inefficiency?" he said, adding that the
\nbylaw is still being discussed at the council. (jun)<\/p>",
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