Cotton buds, piggy banks and cheeks for legislators

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Apart from tense debate inside the People's Consultative Assembly's commodious convention hall over burning state issues, it was a bundle of laughs outside.

The main unofficial event was a "ceremony" where NGO activists presented easygoing legislators with a box of cotton buds, a mock check and a piggy bank.

The gifts were intended to mock politicians, who the activists said "do not listen to what the common people say, accept bribes and waste the taxpayers' money".

The "check" carried the instruction: "a legal bribe instrument at the legislature".

Just a day earlier, two activists were briefly detained at city police headquarters on charges of "disturbing" legislators by handing them cotton buds to clean their ears before attending sessions.

Fikri Thalib from the Interest Group was the first legislator to receive a package from Vincent, an activist from the coalition, on Friday.

"This is proof that people care about the Assembly," said Lukman Hakim from the United Development Party (PPP) after receiving his Assembly survival kit.

Two other legislators to accept the gifts were Baharuddin Aritonang from the Golkar Party and Dwi Ria Latifa from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Nia Sjarifudin of the Women's Solidarity group, coordinator of the ceremony, said the cotton buds were "strong enough to clean the ears of lawmakers".

She added that the items were distributed because the activists were disappointed with the legislators' reluctance to listen to what the public wanted.

The coalition of NGOs said that the deliberation process in the Assembly did not reflect the interests of the people, but was instead leading to political conspiracy.

No police officers intervened in the event, which attracted a large crowd.