Activist says councillors plan overseas trips
Activist says councillors plan overseas trips
JAKARTA (JP): City councillors are again planning to travel
overseas -- this time to Japan and Argentina -- to engage in
comparative studies in disaster and garbage management, following
their controversial trip to Los Angeles last month, an activist
said on Wednesday.
Muhammad Taufik from the Jakarta Study Center (PPJ) told
reporters that councillors of Commission A for administrative and
legal affairs will conduct a comparative study on disaster
management in Tokyo, while those of Commission D for development
affairs will go to Buenos Aires for a comparative study on the
management of garbage.
A source in the City Council confirmed Taufik's statement,
saying that some councillors from Commission A would depart on
Aug. 10 and their colleagues from Commission D on Aug. 19.
Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz Matnur, a member of Commission A, when
contacted over the phone by The Jakarta Post at first said that
he did not know about the trip to Tokyo.
He later admitted that Commission A planned to visit Tokyo to
study the country's approach to disaster management.
He said that it was important to set up a disaster management
plan for the city as suggested by the Agency for the Study and
Application of Technology (BPPT).
BPPT together with the City Council, conducted a research into
disasters in the city.
The expert, according to Abdul, recommended that the
councillors visit Tokyo as a model of a city which has succeeded
in its management of disaster.
Abdul stressed that it was mandatory for the city to develop a
disaster management strategy, with the understanding that the
term "disaster" covered social conflicts such as riots and
student' brawls, which are a common occurrence in Jakarta.
Councillors from Commission D were not available for comment
regarding the planned trip to Argentina.
Earlier reports said that Jakarta produced 25,000 cubic meters
of garbage, but 2,000 cubic meters could not be transported to
the city's garbage dump in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, due to the
shortage of garbage trucks.
The City Council reportedly has allocated Rp 6 billion (US$
600 million) to finance foreign trips by the councillors this
year.
Several foreign trips have been made by the city councillors
despite criticism from the public that the trips were a waste of
tax payers' money.
Last month, as many as 15 members of Commission C for
budgetary financial affairs went to Los Angeles for a comparative
study on taxes.
Previously, the councillors from Commission E for social
welfare had earlier visited Mexico City in Mexico for a
comparative study on education and social welfare.
Reports also said that some councillors from Commission B
planned to conduct a comparative study in Paris. (04)