Councilors question Sutiyoso's overseas trip

Councilors question Sutiyoso's overseas trip

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso left the capital for the
Philippines yesterday afternoon without giving an explanation for
his visit.

His trip was strongly opposed by city councilors, who asked
the governor to return to Jakarta soon, as the capital is still
facing serious food shortages and fears of escalating crime.

According to the head of the city's administrative affairs,
Ndang Suriatna, the governor departed at 12:30 p.m. yesterday.

"The governor is doing something related to his job there," he
told The Jakarta Post, although he refused to give other details,
such as the flight number or the number of people in the
governor's entourage.

But a reliable source at the city's public relations office
said Sutiyoso was in the neighboring country "to attend a junior
soccer game".

The source refused to explain further.

The All Indonesian Soccer Federation confirmed yesterday the
Philippines is currently hosting the qualifying round for the
Under-19 Asia Cup.

The event was scheduled to start yesterday and last through
Sunday.

However, after failing to receive a satisfactory reason for
the trip, angry councilors labeled Sutiyoso as a governor without
a sense of urgency.

Lukman Mokoginta, the head of the Indonesian Democratic Party
faction; Achmad Suaidy, the head of the United Development Party
(PPP) faction; and Azwar Abbas, also from PPP, regretted
Sutiyoso's mysterious overseas trip.

The governor, they said, should have stayed in the capital as
its security had yet to be completely brought under control.

According to Lukman, Sutiyoso should not have traveled abroad
as there are many urgent things to do here, including solving
shortages of many essential goods and dealing with the increasing
number of demonstrations in the capital.

"Due to the situation, I think it was not right for him to go
abroad," Lukman said.

"I hope the governor will return home soon," he added.

Lukman said Sutiyoso was scheduled to read out his answer
today on a draft city bylaw on the city budget for the 1997/1998
fiscal year.

"I think the event is more important than going abroad," he
said.

Achmad stated that he would not object to the governor's trip
as long as it was related to city affairs.

"But I couldn't understand his decision to leave the city
just to attend a soccer game.

"The governor should have had a greater sense of urgency," he
said.

Achmad also questioned Sutiyoso's pledge not to allocate a
single rupiah for any official travel this year due to the lack
of money in the city budget.

"I hope the payment for his trip is not coming from the city
budget," he said.

Achmad hoped that Sutiyoso would later explain his mysterious
trip to the Philippines.

Azwar asked: "Is it so important that the soccer event should
be attended by the governor himself?"

He warned that anything could happen in the city these days,
like massive lootings and food shortages, so the governor's
presence "is very important for the public". (ind)