Overseas trip?

I was very surprised to read that some 90 members of the working committees of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) plan to travel abroad (including the USA, Canada and some European countries) to disseminate information about the outcome of the 2000 Annual Session of the MPR.

The big question here is who do the legislators work for? If they work for the people, they should not come up with such an outlandish idea. On top of that, don't they see the current situation whereby people (low-income people at any rate) are going hungry and unemployment is increasing all over the country. Financially speaking, it would be very unwise if large sums of money (the people's money) were to be used for such a trip.

The reasons given for the trip, namely publicizing the MPR's decrees, are unacceptable and disproportional. I myself do not see any need for such publicizing of the decrees abroad. It would be more useful and beneficial if they were made known to all of the people in Indonesia.

I hope the members concerned will remember and put into practice what they promised to the people during the election campaign. They probably made hundreds of promises that have yet to be realized. The fact is that the people want to see if they really meant what they said.

HOTIB

Bogor, West Java