MPR ignores call for modest life

MPR ignores call for modest life

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hundreds of members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
checked in at the Mulia Hotel on Monday despite calls by their
chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid to lead a simple lifestyle.

Assembly deputy secretary general Eddie Siregar said Monday
Assembly members would stay in the hotel until Oct. 21, one day
after the inauguration of president-elect Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

"We have reached an agreement with the hotel management that
it would charge for occupied rooms only, and up until now we have
not received objections from Assembly members," Siregar said.

Siregar said the standard room at the Mulia Hotel costs Rp
400,000 a night.

The Assembly, consisting of 547 House of Representatives (DPR)
members and 128 Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members,
will convene Tuesday to swear in Susilo and vice-president-elect
Jusuf Kalla on Oct. 20.

Hidayat appealed to Assembly members on Monday morning not to
stay at the Hotel Mulia, a short walking distance from the MPR
compound.

Members, especially those already staying in official
residences in Kalibata, South Jakarta, did not need to check in
to the hotel, he said.

"We in principle should to avoid excessive budget allocations
for Assembly members," Hidayat was quoted by detik.com as saying.

Earlier, Hidayat of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS) said Assembly leaders would reject the luxurious Volvo
sedans usually provided for high-ranking state officials.

His announcement was supported by Assembly deputy speakers
A.M. Fatwa of the National Mandate Party (PAN), and Mooryati
Soedibyo and Aksa Mahmud from the Regional Representatives
Council (DPD).

DPD Speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita said he supported Hidayat's
moral campaign for the country's leaders to act and live
modestly.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction said it would not
stay at the hotel and suggested the money allocated for rooms be
instead donated to the poor.

"We Assembly members from the National Awakening Party faction
have also decided not to stay in the Mulia Hotel," faction
chairperson Kofifah Indar Parawansa was quoted by Antara as
saying.

She said staying at the hotel, which is only about 300 meters
away from the Assembly building, would not necessarily ensure
legislators arrived on time at meetings.

"The vicinity of the hotel and the Assembly building does not
guarantee the discipline of the legislators," she said.

Siregar said he hoped lawmakers who decided not to stay at the
hotel would provide the Assembly secretariat with signed
statements.

The statements would help the Assembly secretariat to discuss
the issue with hotel management, he said.