House members seek to limit costly foreign trips

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A strict mechanism for selection of lawmakers going on foreign trips should be set up in order to respond to public concern about the abuse of state funds, two lawmakers said on Thursday.

Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said determining who should go on such trips should not be based on mere rotation, as is the current practice, but instead on qualifications and skills.

"We're talking about a huge amount of public money here and many say previous foreign trips have had little effect, thus it's important that the trips be selected carefully and that those who go on them are qualified," he said.

Djoko proposed that those going on foreign trips should draw up a paper outlining the purposes of the visits and present them publicly, so the public would know their qualifications.

"The paper should be in English. I've seen many lawmakers face language barriers when they go on foreign trips, consequently they just sit in conferences and say nothing.

Most importantly, they should present their knowledge about the issues that would highlight the reasons for the trip to convince the public that they would bring something new upon returning," he said.

The House leadership, he said, should also be stricter in selecting which overseas events or trips to go on.

"We can't afford not to go to events such as parliamentary conferences, but we can surely skip 'comparative studies' with unclear purposes or reciprocal visits," said Djoko.

Lawmaker Suryama M. Sastra from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said a thorough proposal of works and targets should become a must for those going on foreign trips.

He cited the example of an upcoming trip by the House ways and means committee to Cairo, the proposal of which was rejected by the House leadership a couple of weeks ago.

However, on Thursday the leadership annulled the prohibition, although the purpose of the seven-day trip still remains unclear.

"One thing we can learn from the Egyptian parliament is how they've been able to maximize its function amid minimum benefits and an authoritarian administration," said Suryama, who pulled out after his party considered the trip non-essential.

Lawmaker Djoko Edhi Abdurrahman from PAN, who will tag along with the trip on a different mission, told journalists that the team would work with the Egyptian parliament on the first three days.

"The rest is a visit to Dubai for shopping. I've heard it's an Internet city and where many tax-free shops are located," he said.

A total of Rp 14.96 billion (about US$1.4 million) was allocated for foreign trips in the House's 2005 budget, and this will more than double to Rp 31.46 billion next year.