Lame duck Legislators plan Rp 1b for tour

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung

Nearing the end of their tenures in two months, Lampung legislative councillors are planning to go on comparative study tours to various regions in the country, deemed by many as a vacation or a way to earn extra money before they retire.

Every year, funds allocated for the tours reach up to Rp 1 billion (US$ 105,263) for transportation, accommodation, meals, spending money an official tour (SPJ) expenses.

Although funds have been allotted from the 2004 provincial budget, not every councillor agreed that they were needed, as was cited by a councillor from the Prosperous Justice Party and head of Commission E, Abdul Hakim.

He said that it was better for them to improve their performance near the end of their terms, rather than spending money for the tours. He said that study tours had more disadvantages than advantages.

"Comparative studies will have no benefit for the people. Besides that, people will be suspicious as the results will not produce much that will help the public," he said.

In previous years, many councillors who were listed as comparative study participants took only the money but never went. The comparative studies were carried out in stages, visiting different provinces. Commission A and C had planned to go to Yogyakarta, Commission D to Riau, while Commission B and E had not decided on their destination yet.

Head of the Lampung Parliament Watch (LPW) Wahyu Sasongko said the tours were only a waste of money as there would be no results from the comparative studies that could be applied.

As evidence, he said that the councillors failed to follow up on their study tours last year. The councillors visited various provinces -- Commission A went to Kalimantan, B to Central Java, C to Medan and Riau, E to West Java and D to Central Java and Sulawesi. "But upon returning home, there was no follow-up," said Wahyu.

A source at the council who wished to remain anonymous said that the SPJ money is seldom used because working partners traveling with the councillors will pay for all the expenses. Airplane tickets, accommodation, presents and spending money will be paid for by heads of agencies or municipalities.

"Isn't it just a cruise holiday? It's just a pretense," said the source.

Speaker of the Lampung legislature Nurhasanah said that the study tour would still go on as it had been scheduled earlier. "Besides that, it hasn't violated any rules. There will always be a comparative study every year," said Nurhasanah.

He said that even though study tours were carried out approaching the end of a term, they would still be beneficial as the results would be forwarded to councillors in the next term.

Head of Commission A Syukri Baihaki said that a study tour could not be considered the same as a holiday or a cruise. "It's in the council's agenda. Commission A also has work to do in the matters of law and governance to complete," said Syukri.

He said that the working visit to Yogyakarta was related to the implementation of Bylaw No. 8/2001 on streamlining the organization of provincial administrations. "Yogyakarta has implemented the bylaw, so we wish to study the mechanisms and system there," he said.

Based on the bylaw, the number of agencies, offices and organizations of a provincial administration should be limited so as to be effective and efficient. "There are too many agencies in Lampung now. The problem is, none of them are performing well," he said.

Another problem, he said, was that the bylaw must be implemented by the end of this year at the latest, which meant, Commission A along with the organizational bureau, the law bureau and the provincial personnel administration agency had the responsibility to complete the task.