Sutiyoso departs for controversial Euro tour

Sutiyoso departs for controversial Euro tour

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Governor Sutiyoso left the city on Monday for a 10-day
visit to Madrid, Athens and Amsterdam, despite criticism of the
purpose of the trip.

City spokesman Muhayat said Sutiyoso was accompanied by his
wife, Rini and two senior city officials for the trip to the
three European countries: Spain, Greece and the Netherlands.

"The visit aims to strengthen cooperation between Jakarta and
the three European cities," Muhayat told reporters at City Hall.

He said the three cities had invited Sutiyoso to visit the
places a long time ago but it could only be undertaken now due to
the governor's tight schedule.

According to the program, Sutiyoso will first meet the Mayor
of Madrid, D. Jose Maria Alvarez and the city's governor, D.
Alberto Ruiz Gallardon.

On Thursday, Sutiyoso is scheduled to depart for Amsterdam for
some programs, which include a visit to a greenhouse.

The governor is scheduled to leave Amsterdam on Saturday for
Athens, where he will sign an agreement with the local government
there.

Sutiyoso will then leave Athens and arrive here on Wednesday.

Muhayat denied on Monday that any objection had been expressed
by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sutiyoso's trip.

"There has been no objection about that," he said.

A source said on Sunday that Sutiyoso had actually asked for a
permit from the ministry for a two-week visit to the cities, but
the ministry had only allowed him one week.

The source said the ministry's letter had also questioned the
results of Sutiyoso's earlier foreign visits.

In April, the governor visited Canada to inspect garbage
processing technology. From Canada he traveled to South Korea to
receive an honorary degree from Pusan University.

In his capacity as chairman of the Indonesian Basketball
Association (Perbasi) and the Indonesian Target Shooting and
Hunting Association (Perbakin), Sutiyoso visited Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, to attend the Southeast Asian Games last month.

Separately, chairman of the Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta)
Azas Tigor Nainggolan viewed Sutiyoso's trip to be for pleasure.

"The city partnership justification is just a slogan. Sutiyoso
has never adopted similar developments (policies) to those other
cities," Tigor told The Jakarta Post.

Tigor was disappointed with Sutiyoso for leaving the city to
go on such a trip at a time when Jakarta still faced a difficult
economic and security situation.

"The public should continue to criticize him as we are no
longer able to rely on the city council who also conduct similar
foreign trips on a regular basis," he said.

City councillors have spent more than Rp 7 billion of a total
Rp 12 billion allocated for domestic and foreign trips this year.

It's still unclear how much money the governor and other city
officials had spent over the past year.