PDI-P fails to take action against members

PDI-P fails to take action against members

JAKARTA (JP): A deputy chairman of the Indonesia Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has acknowledged the wasteful
overseas trips taken by the party's members on the City Council
but claimed the party had no power to take any action against
them.

"We can't intervene since it is the City Council's business,"
the PDI Perjuangan's deputy chairman Roy B.B. Janis told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said that long before a number city councillors left last
Sunday on a controversial trip to Tokyo and Beijing, he had
summoned some of its members who took a similar trip to Brazil to
question the necessity of the trip.

The party had only warned the councillors and asked them to
cut down on the number of overseas trips allegedly undertaken for
comparative purposes, he said.

"It would be better if the money for the trips had been used
in the public interest," he said.

He refused to comment on public criticism that the trips were
mere junkets, and the possibility of prosecuting the councillors
for misusing public funds.

He said he had not yet been given a full briefing about the
latest trip by a total of 17 councillors to Tokyo and Beijing.

Last week, the 17 councillors from Commission A for
administrative, security, public order and governmental affairs,
left for Tokyo and Beijing for a comparative study on natural
disaster management.

However, they spent most of their time at a number of tourist
destinations, instead of conducting the study.

Some activists have claimed that by using city funds
inappropriately, the councillors had defrauded the taxpayer.

They urged that prosecutors take legal action against the
councillors for alleged corruption.

Earlier, City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo said that the council
would not cancel the trips despite strong criticism from various
parties.

Some Rp 12 billion (US$1.3 million) was allocated under the
2001 city budget for official domestic and foreign travel by
councillors. Half of the funds have already been used up.

Meanwhile, lawyer Bara Hasibuan suggested that an ethics
committee be set up which could compel the councillors to give
clarification. "If the councillors are found guilty, then they
should be removed from the council.

"But since an ethics committee has yet to be established, the
prosecutor's office should conduct an investigation into the
matter," he argued.

He said that using city funds for personal pleasure could be
considered a form of corruption.

"Thus the trips could be classified as crimes. They (the
councillors) claim the trips were for comparative study purposes,
but in fact they were only there for the fun," Bara told the
Post.

Another lawyer, Frans H. Winarta, was of the same opinion, and
said the state or the public could file a lawsuit against the
councillors for alleged abuse of power and misappropriation of
state funds.

"The councillors could be charged with violating the criminal
code or be sued under the civil code," he said. (jun/04)