'Legislators fight for own interests'

'Legislators fight for own interests'

Factions in the House of Representatives clashed last week over
the government's decision to raise fuel prices by an average of
29 percent. What were they fighting for? The Jakarta Post asked
some Jakarta residents what they thought were the reasons behind
the incident.

Edo, 22, a student of school of economics at the University of
Indonesia (UI) who lives in Pasar Minggu subdistrict, South
Jakarta.

I don't think the current bickering in the House is for the
sake of people's interests.

Those legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle are automatically would not strongly oppose the fuel
price hike if the president was Megawati Soekarnoputri,while
legislators of the National Awakening Party (PKB) would not
oppose the decision if it was made by Gus Dur (Abdurrahman
Wahid).

So, their own political interests are behind the recent
shameful action in the House of Representatives.

I think Indonesians will not be confused by their actions.
They already known that politicians always use any opportunity to
advance their own interests.

I did not vote in the most recent elections and I will not
vote in the next elections because I do not believe in
politicians.

Anwar, 35, a street vendor at Lebak Bulus bus station, South
Jakarta. He lives in a rented house in Ciputat district in
Tangerang.

Well, I don't know the reason for the legislators' bickering.
Maybe they really want to express the aspirations of the people
who are affected by the recent fuel price hikes. Maybe, they are
only trying to attract the people's attention.

But I will say that this sort of behavior is a bad example for
the young generation.

I think, most of the people in the House of Representatives
are educated people. They should not act like students of a
junior or senior high school. They should solve their problems in
a wiser way.

I hope that such an incident will not happen again in the
future. They must give a good example to the young people.

Frankly speaking, I am disappointed with the recent fuel price
hike as I am among those affected by the policy. But I do not
agree that the legislators should solve the problem through
fighting.