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.