Assembly workers kick back, relax after session

JAKARTA (JP): Words were not enough to describe how many of the exhausted attendants and secretariat staff of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) felt as Assembly speaker Amien Rais banged the gavel to close the plenary session.

"Tired," sighed Syaefudin, 43, as he slumped in his chair.

Others yawned in response to the question of how they felt. Some mustered the energy to utter "You know the answer".

Syaefudin's vocal chords were given a particular workout during the session, but he played a historic role.

"I read out the lists of names and the ballot results, taking turns with other officials," Syaefudin said.

"Even as we were reading out the ballots one by one, we could feel our hearts pounding in anticipation of the final count."

This year's General Session was far more alive and unpredictable than previous ones. Syaefudin remarked that he was proud to be part of the dawning of a new atmosphere in the office in which he has worked for 15 years.

A total of 216 people work for the Assembly secretariat serving the 695 Assembly members.

They tirelessly toiled behind the scenes for the past three weeks to ensure the smooth running of the country's most democratic Assembly session in over three decades.

They doubled their workload and put in long hours.

Apart from the electronic voting devices in the plenary hall, which ultimately were not used, there were no additional purchases, such as photocopy machines and computers, to lighten the burden of the staff.

The greater plurality of interests among the more diversified Assembly membership put more demands on the personnel.

"We formerly had only five factions in the MPR, now we have 11, and all of them held separate intensive meetings during the session," said Heri Herawan from the personnel unit of the Assembly's secretariat.

At least 10 officials would be on hand during a faction meeting to take notes, procure materials and duplicate documents.

Through it all, including sessions dragging on well past midnight and resuming promptly the next day at 9 a.m., the secretariat staff received no special treatment.

Assembly members were excused if they arrived late, or even skipped sessions, but it was not allowed for the Assembly employees.

With an almost round-the-clock workload, many workers were forced to "camp out" in the secretariat office if they had early morning assignments the following day.

The secretariat said there were no special allowances or accommodation for the staff.

One small perk was their free packed lunches and dinners.

Vacations and leave for the month of October were also forbidden, except for those on maternity leave.

In anticipation of the greater demands, the secretariat established an internship program for students interested in helping out during the Assembly.

"We had 30 additional staff from high school students and university students who applied a few months before the session opened," Heri said. (emf)