No five-star treatment for MPR members during annual session

No five-star treatment for MPR members during annual session

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) may
be in for a big shock when they gather in Jakarta next week for
the Assembly Annual Session: they won't be getting any five-star
treatment this time round.

Rully Chairul Azwar, head of the special committee of the MPR
Working Committee, told reporters that the MPR secretariat had
been allocated a budget of Rp 18 billion ($1.8 million) for the
annual session.

With that budget, members would either have to find their own
accommodation -- not a difficult task for most since they live in
Jakarta -- or if they all had to be accommodated, the secretariat
would not be able to put them up at five-star hotels as it had in
the past, Rully said.

Previously, the MPR members were put up at luxury hotels near
the DPR/MPR building, including the Mulia and the Jakarta Hilton.

"We will have to downgrade the accommodation facilities,"
Rully said without specifying which lesser class hotels would
have the privilege of hosting the representatives of the people.

The MPR is budgeting for 10 meeting days, although the Annual
Session could be completed in eight days if the meetings proceed
smoothly, Rully said.

The secretariat still hoped that there would be enough money
to arrange the hotel accommodation, he said.

Having members staying in hotels might cost a little more, but
it would be easier for the organizers to contact them, or to
require them to work all night if and when they have to, he
added.