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Jakarta Post

House of aspiration initiative collapses

The House of Representatives has caved in to public pressure and scraped its highly controversial initiative to establish an “aspiration home” for every legislator that would cost taxpayers Rp 112 billion (US$12 million)

The Jakarta Post
Sat, August 14, 2010

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House of aspiration initiative collapses

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he House of Representatives has caved in to public pressure and scraped its highly controversial initiative to establish an “aspiration home” for every legislator that would cost taxpayers Rp 112 billion (US$12 million).

Pius Lustrilanang, the House Internal Affairs Committee (BURT) deputy chairman, said implementing the idea was impossible given the strong public reaction to it.

“The plan is likely to be scrapped upon the consent of the House,” he was quoted as saying by news portal detik.com.

The development met with a cold response from legislators, who have become a target of public resentment since the idea was floated.

Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator from the Golkar Party, said his party in essence agreed with the idea to scrap the plan. “We think that the aspiration home idea is good but the conditions aren’t right,” he said.

Bambang added that his party would implement the idea in its own way at each electoral district by upgrading their party’s offices into “aspiration homes”.

“We will equip our headquarters with facilities such as computers with an Internet connection,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which opposed the initiative from the outset, welcomed the announcement.

“If the House decides not to finance the aspiration home, that’s fine,” PDI-P legislator Ganjar Pranowo told the Post.

He added that his party would continue to promote the idea of creating aspiration homes by utilizing the party’s available offices that were present in almost all regencies and municipalities across Indonesia.

Bukhori Yusuf, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which was the only party that supported the initiative, said the household committee must be given the chance to consider other options for the idea. “We will respect the decision if the committee eventually decides against providing funds,” Bukhori added.

Roy Salam, an activist from the Indonesia Budget Center (IBC), said that utilizing the parties’ available facilities as “aspiration houses” was a better option than using state funds to build such places.

“Basically, having ‘aspiration homes’ is necessary but there are other ways to achieve this,” he said.

He added that using the political parties’ offices as “aspiration homes” would provide a valuable lesson to the parties by exposing them to the aspirations of their constituents. (gzl)

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