`Councillors' trips are a waste of money'

The city administration said it had allocated a part of the city budget to finance 32 councillors' trips to South Korea, Beijing, Bangkok, Spain and Morocco for comparative studies. The City Revenue Agency disbursed between Rp 120 million and Rp 150 million for each trip. The Jakarta Post talked to several city residents who have criticized the people's representatives for not siding with the public.

Johan, 56, is a newspaper vendor at the Kota train station in Central Jakarta. He resides in Pasar Ikan, North Jakarta, with his wife and two children:

I don't blame the city councillors who made the recent trips abroad. I know it was a waste of the city budget as no clear results came out of the trips. I don't care about where they went, even if it was to another planet. But I do blame the persons that allowed them to go.

Those who permitted the trips must be held accountable for their wrongdoing. I guess they don't have a good sense of crisis. How could they allow the city councillors to waste so much money during this economic slump?

On the one hand, to err is human. They might forget their ethics and morality. But if they continue to make mistakes, I think that isn't human anymore. And city councillors and other high-ranking officials always make the same mistakes.

So I'm wondering how they can act as representatives of the residents here? They are somewhat immoral in this case and they do not deserve to represent the people.

In my life, I am sorry to say that some civil servants here sometimes take my papers without paying. They are rude to me when I ask for payment. They get a monthly salary but they help themselves to my papers. I think that's where the corrupt mentality begins.

Sarwani, 46, has been an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in Bandengan Utara, North Jakarta, for five years. He is married and has four children:

If the city councillors are guilty of taking these controversial trips, then that really upsets me.

The city councillors are deemed the people's representatives so they should be well aware that the current economic situation has made people's lives here a lot harder. How dare they make these costly trips.

I'm sure they don't deserve to be representing the people. Even if they hadn't have made those trips, I wouldn't trust them anymore.

I certainly won't be voting for any party or anyone in the upcoming general election. It's useless. The leaders are just liars since they never side with the poor.

If the public keeps silent, that is because we are always not informed. If we always knew how they were behaving, we would be angry. Despite living in poverty, low-income earners such as myself, are the taxpayers who pay their salaries.

Ferry, 27, is a sidewalk vendor who sells VCDs in Senen, Central Jakarta. He lives in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta with his brother:

The news that the city councillors' took foreign trips irritates me. I wonder if they still deserve to be called the people's representatives.

Their behavior obviously shows that they do not care about people who earn a low income. I cannot imagine how much they have spent of the money collected in taxes from people like us.

If they had any common sense, the part of the budget used for their trips could have been used to help the socially disadvantaged in the city.

I wonder if they know that city residents are hardly able to survive on a daily basis. It's really tough to get by. I can feel it.

I'm pessimistic. What can we do about it? I'm sure they would never listen to what we had to say. Well, the most important thing is getting my next meal rather than thinking about a futile situation like that.

Dadang, 43, has been a sidewalk vendor selling soft drinks and cigarettes on Jl. Kakap in North Jakarta for three years. He resides nearby with his wife and four children:

To be honest, the attitudes of city councillors have really hurt the feelings of ordinary people like me.

They shouldn't have done that (taken trips abroad using the city budget). It's not the right time for them to go.

As they are the people's representatives here, we feel that they have betrayed us. They don't represent the people.

But, what can we, as people living on a low income, do? Nothing. They will just continue their crooked ways, I'm sure.

It's better for me just to think about how I'm going to be able to feed my family tomorrow, and that's all.

-- Leo Wahyudi S