Annual Session or MPR fair?

Annual Session or MPR fair?

JAKARTA: Numerous booths temporarily set up in the lobby of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building have turned the
legislative complex into something resembling a fairground.

The noise from transactions carried out at the booths muffles
the sounds coming from the plenary hall, where MPR members take
turns in making themselves heard.

Various products, ranging from traditional herbs, books and
handicrafts to microwave ovens, are on display in the lobby of
the Assembly building.

"This event is more like a fair than an MPR Annual Session,"
said Erni Setyowati, the chief of the Parliamentary Watch
division of the Center for the Study of Law and Policy (PSHK).

Erni, like other visitors to the Annual Session, did not miss
out on the opportunity to enjoy a free drink offered by a
traditional herb drink producer.

She was not the only person who said that the noisy business
activities in the lobby had created a festive atmosphere usually
associated with a fair.

A reporter with an online media, Martian Damanik, added that
the commercial activities in the complex were just inappropriate.

Several vendors said they had paid Rp 2 million for a booth
measuring nine square meters. Nearly 20 booths were set up in the
MPR lobby. -- JP