Jakarta – A government watchdog is criticizing lawmakers from the House of Representatives (DPR) for a Rp 1.6 billion (US$168,332) junket to Brazil to research village administration.
According to Uchok Sky Khadafi, the coordinator for the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), said that the lawmakers were travelling to the other side of the globe to observe a Brazilian variation of a system that was currently implemented in Indonesia.
"By visiting Brazil, the committee wants to learn about 'participatory budgeting' – a budgeting process that allows villagers to join budget allocation talks. The move is way too late, because the government has implemented this system with its Musrenbang program," Uchok told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, referring to the development planning meeting program.
"The legislators did not check directly in the field whether the system has been implemented here or not. They simply want to spend money for trips abroad."
On Saturday, 16 members of the House's committee deliberating a bill to revise the Village Administration Law departed for seven days for a trip to South America.
The visit, led by committee deputy chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko, a lawmaker from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is a continuation of the lawmakers' last junket, a research trip to China from July 6 to 12.
Several members of the committee deliberating the bill to revise the Regional Administration Law, most of whom are on the village bill committee, are also slated for another junket: five days in Germany, scheduled to start on Sept. 23.
Uchok said that the proposed German junket would also have a price tag greater than a billion rupiah, according to FITRA's calculation.
"Even though the German government will pay for accommodation for nine legislators for the trip, the cost will still reach Rp 1.2 billion, based on the flights, food allowances and accommodations for seven other legislators who will join the trip," Uchok said. The estimate did not reflect per diem for the lawmakers, he added. "We calculated the budget based on state budget standards."
Uchok said that the House needed to develop less expensive alternatives to research bills under deliberation, such as by inviting foreign experts to Indonesia, he said.
Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, echoed Uchok's sentiments. Sending lawmakers on junkets to complete comparative studies was a questionable practice that legislators were loathe to abandon, Ari said.
"It doesn't matter whether it is financed by the government of the country they are visiting or not. The point is whether the visit is relevant or not and whether it will contribute to the drafting of the bill or not," Ari told the Post on Sunday.
Separately, one of the lawmakers on the Brazilian junket, Khatibul Umam Wiranu, said that the need for a comparative study was urgent and necessary.
"FITRA's statement is not true. It was very subjective and they published it only to provoke public fury toward the House of Representatives," Umam said.
"I have checked the actual amount and what FITRA said in its statement was not in line with the data we have," he said, declining to discuss specific figures.
"The trip has been long discussed by the government and was made with the permission of the leader of the House of Representatives; therefore its urgency should not be in question," he told the Post on Sunday. (nad)