Subsidy for legislators<\/p>\n
According to the Aug. 7 Jakarta papers, every member of the
\nHouse of Representatives (DPR) will receive a Rp 70 million
\nsubsidy for the purchase of a Kijang car. So, for the 500
\nlegislators the total subsidy is Rp 35 billion. If so, we should
\ncertainly feel concerned, as such a subsidy increasingly reflects
\nthe \"insensitivity\" of the House towards the suffering and agony
\nof other classes of people, especially the approximately 900,000
\nrefugees brought about by the regional violence and riots who
\nhaven't been settled as yet and whose future is still gloomy.<\/p>\n
The House members' \"shameless\" conduct is indeed ironic and
\nirritating because they still underline their own interests while
\nthey completely ignore the majority of the people's grievances.
\nOur hearts have been wounded by their \"fantastic\" salary
\nincrease, the low level of attendance in various commission
\nsessions (some members never even showed up), the very poor
\nattention to the session producing a decision on the membership
\nof the Commission for Investigation of Officials' Wealth (KKPN),
\nwhich was only attended by 58 members upon voting, have now been
\naggravated by the said subsidy, because it is definitely against
\nthe sense of justice of the people at large who are still
\nstruggling against a lot of suffering and misery.<\/p>\n
Their justification of the cars for the sake of mobility in
\nperforming their tasks is quite illogical, as most of their work
\nis in the DPR building. So, for DPR duties, they only need
\ntransport fares from home to the DPR building. A task beyond the
\nbuilding is only incidental, and there must be another budget for
\nit. Whatever reason they may present, the \"spirit representing
\nthe people\" is extravagantly addressed, but is poor in respect of
\nits materialization because it has become apparent that they are
\nonly busy with wrestling power (interpellation, constitution
\namendments etc), while the pain directly felt by the majority of
\npeople hasn't been solved. The eradication of corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism; Bank Indonesia's liquidity granting
\nproblem; the Texmaco problem and other corruption cases such as
\nPertamina's, Bank Bali's, Garuda's etc, as well as riots and mass
\nviolence raging everywhere are not questioned by the House
\nmembers as \"intemperately\" as with the interpellation agenda to
\nthe government.<\/p>\n
We still have strong hopes that House members like Laksamana
\nSukardi, Sophan Sophiaan, Ekky Syahruddin, Faisal Basiir, Ahmad
\nSumargono, Sutradara Ginting and other sufficiently vocal
\nmembers, will be prepared to openly strive for the cancellation
\nof the subsidy or at least for rejecting\/returning the subsidy if
\nthe funds have already been distributed. We are sure you are not
\nashamed or afraid of being excommunicated or hated or even
\nrecalled by your management for doing this sympathetic action,
\nbecause we believe in your credibility. Give us convincing proof
\nthat the public can easily understand that all of you actually
\nrepresent the suffering people. Just to remind you, each House
\nmember represents almost 400,000 Indonesian people.<\/p>\n
Hopefully this appeal will receive a positive feedback from
\nthe House members.<\/p>\n
H. WISDARMANTO GS<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/subsidy-for-legislators-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }