MPR drops plan to convene in Bali

Kurniawan Hari and I Wayan Juniarta, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ad hoc committee for constitutional amendment on Wednesday finally dropped its plans to convene at the Grand Bali Beach Hotel in Denpasar, Bali.

Deputy chairman of the committee, Slamet Effendi Yusuf of Golkar, confirmed cancellation of the plan, but refused to provide further comment.

"We've dropped the plan to go to Bali, but I don't want to talk about it. It will be better to discuss the substance of the amendment," Slamet told The Jakarta Post by phone.

The cancellation was also confirmed by the luxury hotel's public relations manager Dewi Aprianti.

The plan has sparked condemnation, say observers, as it shown a lack of sensitivity on the part of legislators towards the plight of the common people.

Fellow legislator Akil Mochtar disclosed that members of the ad hoc committee would convene in Jakarta, during which they would discuss the constitutional amendment.

He said that the decision behind the cancellation came from leaders of the ad hoc committee which, besides Slamet himself, Jacob Tobing of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), and Ali Masykur Musa of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

In their meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the 48 committee members were forced to vote as to whether they should go ahead with the plan.

"The vote tally was equally strong, so we let the committee leaders decide," Akil added.

According to Akil, there was no information on the next venue, but most possibly legislators would convene at the Assembly building.

He admitted to abstaining from voting, as he was a member of the group that had no problem about the venue of the convention.

Ali Masykur was among those who rejected plans to go to Bali, while Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa of Golkar, and A.M. Luthfi of the National Mandate Party (PAN), were among those supporting the Bali trip.

An official of the Assembly secretariat, Janed Jri, admitted that the secretariat had canceled the air tickets and the accommodation in Bali.

But, Janed declined to specify the amount of money the legislators would save by canceling the trip.

He added that there was no cancellation fee for either the air tickets or hotel reservations. "There are no cancellation fees. We did make preparations, but not that far," he told the Post.

A rough calculation of a round-trip air fare costs Rp 1.5 million per legislator. Their food is also covered during their stay. The room rates in the Bali Beach Hotel range from Rp 500,000 to Rp 700,000 per night.

The legislators would also receive a daily stipend of Rp 350,000, consisting of Rp 150,000 for transportation, and Rp 200,000 for spending money.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the five-star Grand Bali Beach Hotel in Denpasar, Bali, confirmed the cancellation on Wednesday of the four-day committee meeting.

"Hotel management was informed on Tuesday evening by the Assembly's secretariat that they wanted to cancel the meeting. I don't have any information on the reasons," hotel representative Dewi Aprianti said.

Aprianti expressed regret over the cancellation, stating that the hotel had completed all the preparations to host the meeting. Up to 50 rooms had been prepared to accommodate the committee members.

"We have turned away a number of people who wanted to book the rooms, since we had already reserved them for the committee members," Dewi said. A large room and several smaller meeting rooms.

Yet she fell short of explaining the loss suffered by the hotel due to the cancellation, saying management had not calculated it yet.

"Currently, our occupancy rate is about 73 percent, which is good. If the meeting was not canceled it would have contributed a significant increase to that rate," she said.