Councillors' trips overseas ineffective

JAKARTA (JP): City Council chairman Edy Waluyo stated on Monday that the council had received copies of letters from Indonesian consulates saying that councillors' foreign trips were not effective due to lack of preparation.

"We received the letters from the consulates in Los Angeles, Unites States and Madrid, Spain, last week saying that the councillors' trips were not effective," Edy told reporters at City Hall.

He said the ineffectiveness of the trips was caused by the lack of time given by the council to the consulates to prepare for the visits.

He said the consulates' officers could not contact local officials concerned in order to inform them about the Indonesian councillors' plan to meet them during their so-termed comparative study trips.

"Consequently, due to a lack of preparation, the trips were not effective," Edy said, denying that the trips were just for pleasure.

Rejecting the possibility that future foreign trips would be canceled, Edy said the council would make better preparations in future.

Separately, chairman of the council's Commission C for budgetary affairs Amarullah Asbah admitted that so far there had not been enough preparation before making the trips.

"We had almost no preparation. So that's why many considered the trips ineffective," Amarullah of the Golkar Party said, adding that he had also read copies of the consulates' letters.

Because of the lack of preparations, he said, the councillors of Commission E for social welfare affairs had gone to Los Angeles only to enjoy themselves.

He said councillors of Commission E visited Mexico City to learn about museum management before meeting their friends in Los Angeles last month.

Sources said the councillors of Commission C, who had planned to study entertainment tax in Los Angeles, simply spent their time engaged in leisure pursuits, since they were unable to meet the relevant Los Angeles officials.

The sources said the letters from the consulates were sent to the city administrations, with copies sent to the council and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Amid mounting criticism, some councillors of Commission A for administration continued their trip to Tokyo, Japan, to study disaster management.

"They departed for Tokyo yesterday afternoon," a source at the council said on Monday.

Besides Tokyo, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Madrid, the councillors earlier visited Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and Vancouver for comparative study purposes.

Many felt that the trips were just for pleasure since they were conducted "secretly". The councillors seemed embarrassed to say what they had learnt from their trips.

So far, there have been no official explanations or reports on the results of their trips.

A city official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the city administration had received similar letters from Indonesian consulates in European countries and Perth, Australia, reporting on the ineffectiveness of the councillors' trips.

"But we can do nothing about it since it's the councillors' right to decide their own budget," the official said on Monday.

He said the amount of the budget had been discussed before it was approved by the council, but the use of the budget for specific trips was not discussed with the administration.

The 2001 city budget allocates Rp 11.9 billion (US$1.3 million) for councillors' domestic and foreign trips. The council has reportedly already used up half of this amount. (jun)