Return DPRD's severance pay

I fully subscribe to the demonstration launched by some 800 university students in Malang, East Java. The students were strongly opposed to the severance pay allocated to departing members of the (regional) legislative council (DPRD), thus the students showed their sensitivity toward injustice, the people's fate and the partiality in favor of fellow bureaucrats -- the government, the House of Representatives (DPR) and the DPRD. Besides, there is the indifference of the bureaucrats concerning the disaster of the government's huge debt. Their severance pay policy demonstrates all this.

Students in other cities, together with non-governmental organizations, labor unions, proreform mass organizations and political parties, should exert pressure on and launch action against the government, the DPR and the DPRD to force the cancellation of the severance pay.

The government, the DPR and the DPRD should see this as an opportunity to prioritize the people instead of their personal interests. Each rupiah spent by the government should be justified in order to avoid increasing our debt.

I appeal to the members of the DPR and the DPRD to be aware of this and take the side of the people, who really cannot bear anymore the burden of their suffering. They should refuse the money and return the severance pay to the government. It will be a sweet souvenir for the Indonesian people. Their action will be recorded in golden ink at the end of their services in the DPR and DPRD.

Their awareness and generosity will be highly appreciated. It is the right moment to show that they are on the side of the people.

WISDARMANTO

Jakarta