West Sumatra councillors to tour region amid protests

Kasparman, The Jakarta Post, Padang, West Sumatra

Despite strong public criticism, all 55 members of the West Sumatra legislature are to go ahead with their plan to tour three neighboring countries: Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

West Sumatra Councillors Speaker Arwan Kasri told The Jakarta Post earlier this week that the trips were working visits designed to discuss the implementation of regional cooperation accords.

"We will deal with the follow-ups to cooperation under the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle and the Indonesia- Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle set up a long time ago," Anwar said.

Some Rp 800 million had been earmarked for the trip.

The councillors are scheduled to leave in batches, the first being on Sept. 8, second on Sept. 16, and the third on Sept. 24.

Critic Irwan Syofyan criticized the planned trip as a waste of resources, urging councillors to spend the Rp 800 million budget the province's poor population.

"It would be wise to spend the money on projects benefiting 54 percent of West Sumatra people now living below the poverty line," said Syofyan.

He also reminded the councillors to obtain permission from President Megawati Soekarnoputri, as stipulated in a circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, before embarking on the trip.

Arwan admitted that he had reported the planned tour to Minister for Home Affairs Hari Sabarno instead of requesting permission from the President, and that the councillors would still depart even if no response was forthcoming from the minister.

The visit would not only waste a lot of funds but also leave many legislation issues unresolved, the most urgent being the amendment of the provincial budget, which must be completed at the end of September. "This topic at least takes a month to discuss," said a councillor.

Sources at the provincial council said that during the tours, foreign entrepreneurs would be invited to invest in the plantation, tourism and mining sectors, while the realization of 180 memoranda of understanding signed by foreign investors in West Sumatra would be sought.

Dr. Elwi Dahnil of Andalas University in Padang, slammed the visit, saying that the pursuit of investments was within the executive domain.

"It's completely illogical for them (councillors) to invite investors. To be frank, they only want to have a good time," he said.

Rusmazar Ruzuar of the West Sumatra Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said the visits to neighboring countries would be to no avail.

"Investors from neighboring countries once operated here but their funds were exhausted in the process of procedural handling," he said.