House Speaker Marzuki Alie is criticizing the Berlin-based Indonesian Students Association (PPI), saying that the group has ridiculed the House of Representatives (DPR).
Marzuki, a senior politician with the Democratic Party, also questioned the credibility of a report issued by the students. "I must counter this to maintain the dignity of the House," Marzuki said.
In its report, the PPI criticized a trip to Berlin made by lawmakers, calling it a waste of money that was arranged without proper planning.
According to the PPI, which deployed some of its members to monitor the lawmakers' visit during their "comparative study", the lawmakers failed to collect relevant information needed to discuss the engineering bill.
Instead of visiting relevant institutions in Germany, the lawmakers went to the Deutsches Institut fir Normung (DIN), an institution focusing on product standardization, the PPI said. "Their criticism is baseless," Marzuki said.