Refleksi : Tentu saja dapat dimemngerti bahwa para anggota Dewan Penipu Rakyat (DPR) bisa lupa e-mail address mereka, tetapi harus disadari pula bahwa mereka tidak akan pernah lupa fulus yang mau atau sedang dikeruk.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-lawmakers-foul-up-again-on-study-tour/439421 Indonesian Lawmakers Foul Up Again On Study Tour Jakarta Globe | May 06, 2011 A screen grab from YouTube shows House Commission VIII Deputy Chairman Ahmad Zainuddin (right) and commission member Zulkarnaen Djabar (left) answering questions from Indonesian students in Melbourne during their visit. In the latest blow to Indonesian lawmakers trying to shake off their reputation for incompetence, members of a House of Representatives commission visiting Australia embarrassed themselves while addressing a group of Indonesian students. A delegate of House's Commission VIII, which oversees religious and social affairs, gave a Yahoo e-mail address as the commission's official contact during a heated dialogue with the Association of Indonesian Students in Australia (PPI Australia) in Melbourne on Saturday. Pressed to provide the official address for students' queries, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Astriana Sinaga, gave students the address [email protected] . Several students immediately tried to send e-mails to the address but all bounced back. Teguh Iskanto, one of the students in the audience, blogged on Kompasiana that the lawmakers had dodged numerous questions from the floor, including one related to the budget for their comparative-study tour on poverty to Australia. The lawmakers responded that they did not have enough time to answer such questions as they had to prepare for activities the following day, Teguh wrote. The lawmakers had given the private e-mail address of the commission chairman, Abdul Kadir Kardin, and other members. House commissions have come under pressure in recent months as scrutiny increased following a string of costly overseas study trips that generated little in the way of findings. Abdul Kadir told the Jakarta Globe that the e-mail gaffe had been exaggerated. He said the commission tried its best to discuss things with the students and promised to publish the outcome of the tour of Australia and China. He said the commission had prepared several recommendations for Indonesia's poverty bill. Ray Rangkuti, director of the Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA), said it was "funny" that while lawmakers were trying to improve their performance, they could not even offer a simple contact for communication. Nining Indra Saleh, the House secretary general, said that like all commissions, Commssion VIII had an official address: [email protected] A Democratic Party lawmaker and telematics expert, Roy Suryo, told the Jakarta Globe that the official address was only part of an intranet system and that e-mails sent to it from outside the system would bounce back. "I told the House when I started to serve here that we should make the e-mail service accessible both inside and outside the House," he said. "It's cheap. Compared to the study's budget, it's nothing. It would probably cost Rp 5 million [$585] for the whole thing." Priyo Budi Santoso, deputy House speaker from the Golkar Party, dismissed the gaffe as "not substantial." He said that it was understandable that lawmakers could forget an official e-mail address ++++ http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/lawmakers-want-rp-300b-to-spend-during-their-recess/439012 Lawmakers Want Rp 300b To Spend During Their Recess Anita Rachman | May 04, 2011 Lawmakers on Tuesday said they not only wanted to raise their budget for passing laws and related study trips but also planned to increase funding 150 percent for other activities - during recess. The legislature's Household Affairs Committee (BURT) is proposing higher allocations for meeting constituents and organizing press conferences during their recesses in 2012. Arwani Thomafi, a BURT member from the United Development Party (PPP), said that this year each lawmaker would receive Rp 216 million in recess funds while for 2012, they would each get Rp 540 million. With a total of 560 lawmakers, the state would have to earmark Rp 302 billion ($35 million) for the House, up from Rp 121 billion this year. BURT said lawmakers could use the money for renting equipment for meetings, such as a sound system and chairs, to put up banners and pay for transportation. The committee had also said the House was seeking Rp 541.2 billion for its 2012 legislative budget, with allocation for each bill at Rp 8.4 billion, assuming that they would handle 64 bills. That proposed legislation budget was almost double this year's budget of Rp 301.7 billion. The committee had also requested a bigger allocation for overseas comparative studies, raising the amount from Rp 1.7 billion in 2011 to Rp 3.4 billion in 2012 for each bill. Arwani stressed that the proposed 2012 legislative budged still had to be agreed on by the government. "To meet [lawmakers'] needs, including those during the recess periods, it is better for a House member to have another job on the side. Because I can assure you that [what they get from the House nowadays] is not enough to cover all expenses," Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said. "Just follow us during the recess periods, and you'll be surprised how much [we spend]," Priyo said. Golkar Party lawmaker Nudirman Munir, the deputy chairman of the House Ethics Council, on Tuesday said all he received for activities during the current recess period was about Rp 50 million. He was talking with the Jakarta Globe by telephone from Solok, West Sumatra, where he was having a meeting with his constituents. He said that during such meetings, many constituents ask him to donate money, to build a mosque or a traditional market building for example. "The House budget for recess periods is very low compared to that of representatives at the district level. When we come to the regions, they always think we have a lot of money," he said. "So I always get anxious when the recess periods come around. They always eat into my personal budget - it costs me around Rp 50 million of my own money per recess period." Nudirman said that the more active a lawmaker was traveling to meet voters, the more funds would be needed. "And if you want to get re-elected, you should be active and regularly meet with your constituents," he said. Ade Irawan, from Indonesia Corruption Watch, said that as long as the relation between lawmakers and their constituency is dominated by financial considerations, lawmakers would always try to increase their budget. In contrast with other countries, where politicians got financial support from their constituents, Indonesian politicians tend to lure voters with money, Ade said. The main problem with political parties and their constituents, Ade said, is that their relationship is not based on support for a particular political program. "As long as this relationship is based on money, House members would ask for more money for the sake of their electability," he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
