East Java councilor gets Rp 3m per day for trip down under

A 14-strong delegation representing the East Java legislative council departed for a six-day trip to Australia on Monday for a comparative study on disaster mitigation.

The councilors are accompanied by two officials from the provincial disaster management agency during the visit to Melbourne and Sydney.

“East Java and the two Australian cities share much in common in terms of natural disaster we face,” Fuad Mahsuni, deputy chairman of the council’s Commission E on people’s welfare, said as quoted by Antara state news agency.

He said the trip was part of an action plan recommended by the council in a plenary to debate an ordinance on disaster management recently. Governor Soekarwo criticized the bylaw for failing to provide details on measures to mitigate the impacts of a disaster.

“We will make full use of our trip to respond to the governor’s criticism,” Fuad said.

For the overseas outing, each councilor receives Rp 3 million (US$325) in daily allowance.

In December last year, some of the councilors visited Laos on the state’s account to support Indonesian athletes competing in the Southeast Asian Games there. Another batch of councilors also planned to go to Laos, but cancelled the trip following mounting public criticism.