Anita Rachman, Jakarta – So what did lawmakers learn on their study trips to South Africa and the Netherlands?
On Tuesday, one lawmaker said he had gained so much horticultural knowledge while in the Netherlands that it was simply not possible to provide a detailed description.
Golkar Party legislator Anthon Sihombing, from the House of Representatives Commission IV, which oversees agriculture, explained that he and 17 of his fellow commission members had visited Wageningen and The Hague to study Dutch flower production.
"There is so much we could adopt for our horticulture bill, it is really not possible to mention all points," he said.
"They produce 20 million stalks of flowers every day. I think we need to learn this. We also learned that research in the Netherlands is mostly done by universities. In Indonesia, many institutions handle research work, including LIPI [Indonesian Institute of Sciences]. This could lead to overlapping duties."
Anthon also lashed out at critics of the overseas trips. "Those who say that this trip was useless are simply being narrow-minded," he said.
Another delegation that flew to South Africa to learn more about their Scouts Movement, said it believed the trip would add significant substance to Indonesia's Scouts bill.
After seven days in South Africa, Democratic Party legislator Vena Melinda, from House Commission X, which oversees education, acknowledged that just three days had been "effective learning days."
Despite the short amount of time, Vena said she had picked up valuable information during her trip. "We met with the South African Scouts Association. We visited their camp and saw how the Africans and the white people trained together in the camp," she said.
"We learned a lot of things, including that scouting there was not school-based but community-based, and that they were mostly funded by nongovernmental organizations and not the government."
Vena said she participated in the trips because it was part of her job and not because of the stipends allocated from the Rp 170.3 billion ($19.1 million) budget set aside this year for lawmakers' overseas trips.
"We just accept the budget, whether it's enough or not," she said, adding that lawmakers flew economy class and "did not complain about the quality of the hotels, as long as they could get some sleep."
Vena, however, declined to discuss which hotels lawmakers stayed at in South Africa.
The Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) this week said each legislator received between Rp 20 million and Rp 25 million as a weekly allowance during their official overseas study trips. The watchdog also said legislators received an additional Rp 20 million as a "representation fee" for each trip.
Anthon, however, said the stipends were not always enough. "I spent $2,100 of my own money to support the trip, because the budget was not enough for everyone," he said. "Those who say we've been on a relaxing holiday are talking nonsense."