PKB bans councillors from overseas visit

PKB bans councillors from overseas visit

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The National Awakening Party (PKB) has banned its legislators in
the East Java provincial legislative council from going to Europe
for comparative studies.

The province's party branch threatened to remove its
councillors who defy the ban.

The decision was made during a meeting of the 32-member PKB
faction in the legislature on Monday. At least 24 legislators
from the party attended the forum.

"We have fully agreed to prohibit our members in the council
from taking part in the planned trip abroad," PKB faction
chairman Fathorrasjid said.

The council has unveiled a controversial plan to make
comparative studies in several European countries, including
Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

It would involve at least 100 legislators from Commission B
for economic affairs and Commission E for people's welfare.

The plan drew condemnations from analysts and activists as
well as other community members, who accused the legislators of
being extravagant with state money, while East Java needs funds
badly to help victims of recent floods and landslides in several
regencies there.

"The monetary crisis is still upon us. In East Java, we are
facing problems with refugees from floods and landslides and also
poverty," said Fathorrasjid, whose PKB is the largest faction in
the council.

"We have taken all factors into consideration, which led us
the decision to prohibit our members from participating in the
overseas trip."

A similar ban was also issued by the National Mandate Party
(PAN), which has four councillors in East Java. The party warned
them of removal should they try to breach the order.

Meanwhile, participants from the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has yet to decide whether to go
ahead with the plan or not. "Not all comparative studies abroad
are bad. There should deliberation before taking a stance," Saleh
Mukadar of PDI Perjuangan said.

At least Rp 2 billion was allocated in the province's 2002
budget for comparative studies by local legislators.

Council Speaker Bisjrie Abdul Jalil insists that overseas
comparative studies are urgent for legislators and that the trip
has been planned a long time.

Last Thursday, Commission B invited German Ambassador to
Indonesia Hermann Sausen to brief the would-be visitors on small-
and medium-enterprises in his country.

It turned out, however, that Sausen advised the East Java
legislators to cancel their trip to Germany, where they would
hold a comparative study on tobacco plantations.

"To learn about tobacco, you should go to Turkey or Greece,
not to Germany. We don't have any tobacco plantations. We have
only tobacco-processing and auctioning sites in Bremen," he was
quoted by Antara as saying.

Also, the French ambassador to Indonesia is scheduled to give
similar presentations to the East Java councillors on March 14.