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.