Truant councillors slammed

Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda, East Kalimantan

Almost all 45 members of the East Kalimantan legislative council had yet to return to work on Friday, more than a week after the end of the Idul Fitri holidays, a development that sparked protests from activists.

Only several councillors appeared at their offices in the provincial capital of Samarinda. But they stayed there only a few hours and returned home.

However, activities at the council's secretariat have begun to resume normally with many of the staff having been at work since Monday.

The government had warned civil servants and other state officials to cut their salaries should they fail to come to work on Monday, the end of the official nine-day holiday.

But there seems to be no punishment imposed against the truant council members.

As most of the councillors were lazy coming to the office, local people could not voice their grievances and aspirations to the council.

The councillors even appeared to be reluctant to work during the Islamic Ramadhan holy month, but ironically they received a Rp 15 million (US$1,764) Idul Fitri bonus each.

The Jakarta Post observed that the rooms of the council's faction and commission offices and its leaders were empty.

A staff officer at Commission C said many councillors were still in their hometowns celebrating Idul Fitri.

Most of the 45 councillors hail from outside Samarinda and each receives a Rp 2 million monthly allowance to stay in the province's capital city.

Deputy council speaker Kasyful Anwar As'ad said many councillors still had personal jobs to do, so they could not return to work as yet.

Or, many of them were yet to return to Samarinda from their hometowns, where they were busy preparing for political campaigns of their parties ahead of the 2004 elections, he added.

Kasyful admitted that during the month of Ramadhan from Oct. 26 to Nov. Dec. 24, and one week after Idul Fitri, the councillors were generally reluctant to work.

However, he promised the council would be able to complete their unresolved tasks before the 2004 elections.

Local anticorruption activists protested the absenteeism of the councillors, saying they failed to set a good example for other state officials, their constituents and other people at large.

"They (the councillors) are paid by the people. Imagine hundreds of billions even trillions of rupiah are being spent for the activities of the legislative council. But now they are proven of performing poorly," said Achmad Basori, director executive of the Concern for State Wealth (PKN).

He said the move thwarted people from expressing their aspirations.

"If the governor or executive staff officials do not go to their offices, the legislative council is the staunchest critic of them," he said.

Basori threatened to file a class action suit against the councillors if they continued skipping work next week.

"I will make public the names of those too lazy to work, so their constituents will not vote for them in the 2004 elections," he added.