Armando Siahaan & Anita Rachman, Jakarta – As the country faces two devastating natural disasters, lawmakers have decided to postpone – but not cancel – the trips abroad that have frequently been lambasted as wasteful and unnecessary.

House Commission II, which oversees domestic affairs, has delayed a trip to China, scheduled for Monday, to study population administration. "We want to show empathy with our brothers who were struck by the disasters," said commission chairman Chairuman Harahap, from the Golkar Party.

Chairuman said the trip would most likely be rescheduled rather than scrapped because "the tickets have been purchased."

But Anis Matta, a deputy speaker from the Prosperous Justic Party (PKS), said the postponements were "unnecessary." Lawmakers must carry on with their obligations, he said, and did not need to focus all their attention on the disasters.

Commission members are also due to leave for India on Nov. 8 but have not yet decided whether to postpone this trip.

Whether the trips forward or not, commission members from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have decided to skip them altogether.

"We can download the material from the Internet," party member Budiman Sudjatmiko said. He said that instead of sending lawmakers to those countries, which was costly, the commission should invite experts from those countries to visit.

The House Legislation Body also said it would postpone sending a delegation to the Netherlands as part of deliberations on a bill on legal assistance.

"The country is in a grave condition," chairman Ignatius Mulyono said. "We have to be sensitive toward that, even though we must also perform our responsibilities."

Ignatius said a date for the trip had not been fixed "but the disaster becomes a consideration for us not to conduct the trip in the immediate future."

He said that the trip would take place sometime in November but the number of lawmakers going would be reduced. The chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Hatta Rajasa, has also instructed the party's faction in the House to skip overseas trips until the crises were resolved.

"Based on the chairman's direction, all PAN lawmakers are asked to postpone all overseas trips in relation to the country's situation," said Taufik Kurniawan, the secretary general of the party and also a House deputy speaker.

Priyo Budi Santoso, a House deputy speaker from Golkar, said he had urged fellow lawmakers to cancel any scheduled journeys abroad.

"These days, our country is going through a trial," he said, referring to this week's tsunami and volcanic eruption. "I have called commission leaders and other House bodies, urging them to postpone any overseas trips that they might have."

However, Priyo said that postponing the trips did not necessarily mean cancelling them altogether. "It could be rescheduled to anytime," he said.

Anis, meanwhile, said the situation must be examined "proportionally," and that lawmakers must carry out their duties.

He also said it was unnecessary to allocate the money budgeted for the overseas trips to help handle the disasters. "The amount is insignificant," he said. "We don't need to focus all our attention there."

Anis denied claims that lawmakers' overseas trips showed a disregard to the plight of the victims of the disaster. He said that the House as an institution had contributed by approving the budget for natural disaster.

Anis, who visited Yogyakarta on Thursday, said that the individual lawmakers' contributions were represented directly by their respective political parties.

"When I went to Yogyakarta, representations from all political parties were seen in the area," he said. "We have shown our solidarity through our respective political parties."