Lawmakers admit to 'fruitless' trip

Lawmakers admit to 'fruitless' trip

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators just back from Egypt have conceded that they
accomplished little, blaming technical glitches and erratic
changes in schedule for the costly but ineffective trip.

Speaking on Monday after a closed-door meeting with House of
Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono and Deputy Speaker Zaenal
Ma'arif, the lawmakers apologized to the public if the Egyptian
trip was considered inconsequential.

Delegation leader Roestanto Wahidi, of the Democratic Party,
said only two experiences during the seven-day visit could be
useful in improving the House's internal management.

The two were a two-hour meeting with the Egyptian parliament,
which was represented only by its speaker Fathi Sourur, and a
quick glimpse at an international library in Alexandria, Egypt's
most popular tourist destination.

"We learned a lot about Egyptian parliamentary procedures in
welcoming guests, and the layout of their parliament building.
Those were the most important things we learned," Roestanto said.

He and other delegation members said the proposed
outline for the trip had been altered due to flight problems,
technical errors and schedule changes made by the hosts, despite
their assurances early on that they were ready to meet any
requests.

Roestanto said the delegates, who arrived home on Friday
afternoon, had been given for their "comparative study" a number
of parliamentary documents in Arabic, which would later be
translated into Indonesian.

He said the House's delegation also met with Indonesian
students, a group of female workers and other government
representatives during the visit, which also included Dubai.

The returning lawmakers denied they had engaged in
recreational activities, despite their trip itinerary including
outings to recreational sites.

Fifteen members of the House's ways and means committee left
quietly for Egypt on Dec. 16 amid mounting public criticism.

The trip, which cost around US$76,170, had earlier been
canceled due to its irrelevance and ineffectiveness, but was
later approved when it was learned that the Egyptian parliament
had already made preparations for it.

Six of the visiting lawmakers were accompanied by their wives,
but claimed any additional expenses had come out of their own
pockets.

When arriving back in Jakarta, the delegates played a cat and
mouse game with journalists who spotted them on Friday at
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Delegation deputy leader Ebby Djauharie, from the Golkar
Party, said he would work on a mechanism for the public to be
better informed about House foreign trips.

Outside the House building, a group of Muslim students and
activists staged on Monday a rally to demand that the 15
lawmakers return the funds they had spent on the trip.

Protest leader Arief Tri Sarjono said the trip was a waste of
state money and proof that the lawmakers lacked a sense of crisis
considering the problems the nation faced, such as famine and
spiraling poverty.

Roestanto said he personally refused to return the money, but
would leave the final decision to House Speaker Agung Laksono and
his deputy Zaenal Ma'arif, who both endorsed the much-criticized
visit.