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Legislators could go shopping instead of working while abroad

Source
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2010

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Legislator Didi Irawadi from the Democratic Party says that some of his colleagues, who recently went to London in England for a field trip, would spend their focus on other things than doing their jobs.

"I heard some of them want to go shopping and visit Lady Diana's grave," Didi, who is a member of House Commission III on Law, told reporters at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Didi, however, said that he expected his commission colleagues would be able to bring home concrete results from their field trip despite of the fact that they could spend some of their time for amusement.

The field trip, which goes from Sept. 21 to Sept. 26, is meant for a comparison study for the immigration bill, which is being deliberated by the commission.

However, from the six-day field trip, only two days, Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, are allocated for comparison study purposes. A source, insisted to remain anonymous, however, said that there was a more detailed unofficial schedule.

The unofficial schedule says that the legislators would spend most of their days shopping at London's Harrods department store, taking pictures at the Trafalgar Square and at Lady Diana's tomb, and last but not least participating in a fashion tour by visiting Burberry and Calvin Klein boutiques, according to the source.

Commenting on the matter, Golkar Party's Bambang Soesatyo said that he was not surprised. "Honestly, most field trips only allocate around one or two hours for job purposes. Most of the time is spent to go around sightseeing," Bambang said.

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