Palace door closed to legislators

Palace door closed to legislators

JAKARTA: Under the new president, the State Palace has
apparently introduced stricter rules on punctuality, which on
Thursday resulted in six House of Representatives being denied
admission to the inauguration ceremony for new Cabinet members.

Guards refused the lawmakers, including Agus Kartasasmita from
the Golkar Party, admission to the State Palace, where the
ceremony was taking place, as they had arrived a few minutes
late.

Undaunted, some of the legislators tried to sneak around to
get in through the backdoor of the Palace, but to no avail. "Sir,
excuse me, you'll have to stay here," one of the presidential
guards told them sternly.

The hapless lawmakers had no choice but to hang around at the
front door of the Palace until the ceremony was over. --JP