No time to eat at luxury hotel

JAKARTA (JP): The late night sessions at the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) have led one legislator to miss out on his meal vouchers from the five-star Jakarta Hilton Hotel.

Lawyer Didi Supriyanto, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supporter, said: "If it is too late after a proceeding finishes, we then eat at the food stall at the driving range lot in Senayan near our hotel and the MPR building."

Didi, like other PDI Perjuangan Assembly members, is staying at the Hilton, which is a few minutes walk from the legislative building.

"It's cheaper at the food stalls, but the meal voucher is the cheapest because it's free," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said his breakfast, lunch and dinner routines had been disturbed, because as well as participating at the sessions, he still had to maintain contact with his law firm.

Didi said he occasionally missed out altogether on a meal due to the intensive discussions or urgent briefings held by his party.

"For the sake of this session's success, with the pressure of time, it's not only me, but I think all legislators are experiencing it," he said, adding that he was offering to give the meal vouchers away because they were piling up. (emf)