Political party behind student opposition to House Australia visit: Legislator

House of Representatives Commission VIII chair Abdul Kadir Karding said Thursday that a political party was behind the opposition of Indonesian students in Melbourne to their visit to Australia recently.

"After we carried out a study, a political party member played a part in the Australia Indonesian Students Association [PPIA]," he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Karding refused to name the party, but rumor was he was referring to the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party.

Gerindra deputy chair Edhy Prabowo said a parent of one of the Indonesian students was a member of Gerindra, but he denied that his party was involved in the student opposition.

PPIA said in its report that the Commission VIII comparative study to Australia was useless and a waste of money and time. A satirical video was also posted on YouTube showing that during a discussion with the students, commission members did not know their official email address.

One of the legislators said komisi8@yahoo.com was the address, the validity of which was doubted.