Course for Bogor councilors

BOGOR (JP): All 44 members of the Bogor Municipality Council are taking part in a four-day training course at Cipayung Asri 88 hotel in the mountain resort of Cipayung.

Council speaker M. Sahid said on Monday that the course, which began on Sunday, would allow each member of the team to obtain in-depth knowledge about their respective tasks and was held as part of an effort to build effective and powerful councilors.

"All councilors are obliged to fulfill their roles as representatives of the people to the best of their abilities," Sahid said.

"Councilors should be able to change the image prevailing among the public that the people's representatives function to serve the authorities, instead of the people's interest," he added.

Sahid said that based on Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy, the local council no longer acted as the local administration's partner but functioned as the controller.

Course organizer Ismail Rachman said materials provided to the councilors included those concerning the country's political system, drafting city bylaws, taxes, levies and regional economic problems. (24)