East Java legislature delays travel plans
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
The East Java legislative council has finally agreed to postpone its 19 members' plan to make an overseas visit late this month, bowing to mounting public pressure.
The legislative council sparked condemnations recently as its 19-member Commission E unveiled a plan to visit Malaysia, Singapore, Germany and France from Aug. 25 through Sept. 5 for what critics said was a non-essential mission.
The councillors were to conduct "comparative studies" on education, labor and health management in those Asian and European countries.
Following the harsh protests, the legislature's commission decided during its meeting on Tuesday to delay the trip and review the plan whether it would be delayed or not in the future.
"Councillors have agreed that the plan will be postponed. We have also agreed to review its urgency, purposes and targets to be achieved," said Luthfillah Masduqi, deputy chairman of the commission.
He said the delay was made for several considerations, particularly the unresolved problems with the repatriation by Malaysia's government of illegal workers, many of them from East Java.
"This case should be given serious attention from the commission so as to be tackled thoroughly," added Luthfillah, also a legislator of the local chapter of the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Besides, he said, the planned trip still lacks a "mature and clear concept", which requires further discussions on its mission, goal and targeted countries in order that it would be effective and efficient.
He vowed to boycott the trip, if his colleagues still wanted to go ahead with it anytime in the future.
Critics from local non-governmental organizations, academics and community leaders slammed the planned trip, saying it would only be a waste of time and state money.
They criticized the councillors for trying to serve their own interests on the expensive trip.
Under the plan, it would cost the state at least Rp 20 million for each legislator on the trip, other costs would likely be covered by other means.
Criticism also came from the PKB, the second biggest faction in the council, and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The two parties had threatened to dismiss their councillors, if they had gone ahead with the planned trip.
Budi Hariyono, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), also condemned the plan, saying it showed that his fellow councillors had "no sense of crisis".
Council speaker Bisjri Abdul Djalil denied he knew about the official plan by other councillors to visit Asia and Europe.
"The plan has never been discussed by leaders of the council as there was no report from Commission E. I know it only from the media," he said.
The controversy surrounding such a trip was another blow to the already-tarnished image of the East Java legislative council in Surabaya.
It also drew strong criticism for its lack of professionalism last week when two councillors, both from PDI Perjuangan, were involved in a physical clash inside the council building.
The quarrel, in which the two legislators hurled water glasses at each other, was reportedly sparked by a dispute over the distribution of certain fees.