Businessmen lobby legislators in Puncak
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Puncak/West Java
A group of local businessmen took advantage of a two-day conference -- meant to discuss the City Budget -- which included 85 city councillors and 500 city officials here to lobby the authorities for "help" with their respective projects.
Businessmen from various companies quietly arrived at the city-owned mountain resort of Puncak, near Bogor, West Java, on the meeting's first day on Wednesday.
Some of them met the officials and councillors during lunch at local restaurants in Puncak near the Wisma Jaya Raya, where the Rp 1.5 billion (US$144,000) conference was held, to informally discuss business matters.
Councillors from Commission D on development affairs, officials from the City Public Works Agency and several businessmen were spotted having lunch.
One of the businessmen was Didit Haryadi, a former member of the House of Representatives and chairman of the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI).
"I'm just a construction worker now," he jokingly said in front of the restaurant.
Other businessmen preferred to approach the councillors at the Wisma Jaya Raya.
An executive of a private developer, who requested anonymity, said he planned to expand his luxurious apartment complex in the Kemayoran area of Central Jakarta.
"I just want to meet old friends and the councillors," the executive, a former executive of the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post outside the meeting room.
However, councillor Mukhayar RM of the Justice Party claimed no businessmen had approached him about any projects.
"But I don't know about other councillors," said the commission D member.
Several councillors also denied having made appointments with the businessmen.
The meeting ended Thursday evening without producing any significant results and, as predicted by many observers, would be continued at the council building in Central Jakarta on Friday.
An official from the City Transportation Agency, who declined to be named, was disappointed with the rescheduling, saying the meeting should have been more focused on reaching an agreement.
The official added that "the meeting was ineffective and a waste of money," and if it were simply at the council building it would be much easier and quicker for the agencies to provide data as their offices are located near the building.
Many officials and councillors did not spend the night in their rooms despite being provided with an accommodation allowance worth between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000 per day.