T

he return of controversial House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto has also meant the return of expensive overseas trips by lawmakers on the taxpayer’s dime.

Despite public outcry over the House’s poor performance, Setya has been quick to allow at least four overseas trips to Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

At least 30 lawmakers from a special committee tasked with deliberating a bill on general elections will depart to Germany and Mexico next month with the purpose of comparing election systems used by the two countries and to learn about electronic voting systems, committee head Lukman Edy from the National Awakening Party said. Meanwhile, 15 lawmakers from a working committee assigned to deliberate amendments to the 2003 Terrorism Law are also set to spend a week in the UK to study the country’s counterterrorism strategy, called CONTEST, and another week visiting the United Nations’ headquarters in New York to learn about the UN convention on terrorism.

The House speakership approved the trips for the 15 members of the Terrorism Law working committee, deputy chairman of the committee Supiadin Aries Saputra said.

The four overseas trips are only a few of the trips planned this year to have been made public. Several sources who requested anonymity said members of the House’s 11 commissions and other internal bodies, which each comprise 50 lawmakers, are entitled to five trips to foreign countries annually in addition to other overseas trips when taking part in special or working committees to deliberate certain bills. Also, each of the 560 lawmakers is eligible to travel to any one country during their five-year term using taxpayers’ money.

Former speaker Ade Komarudin previously decided to limit overseas trips and cut the recess period, given the House’s poor legislative performance.

When asked about the overseas trips, Setya, who resigned from his position over an ethical scandal before reclaiming it last year, dismissed them as “the right of all lawmakers.” He vowed to reinstate the overseas trip policy immediately after he was inaugurated for the second time as speaker stating that “working visits abroad are needed because they are part of the job description of all lawmakers.”

The House provides little details regarding the allocation of the state budget used to fund each of the trips arguing that the matter was for internal discussion only.

House spending on overseas trips has invariably increased every year according to data from the Jakarta-based Center for Budget Analysis (CBA). There was a 115 percent increase in the House’s spending for trips to foreign countries from 2014 to 2015. The CBA found that the House spent Rp 98.67 billion (US$7.4 million) to finance lawmakers’ overseas working trips in 2014, which rose to Rp 212.19 billion the next year.

CBA director Ucok Sky Khadafi deplored the decision to send large groups of lawmakers abroad, which would only be a waste of money.

“This is so unfortunate amid the situation where the state is struggling to fund public facilities or improve infrastructure,” he said.

Lucius Karus from Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi) also slammed the House, saying that overseas working visits made very little contribution, if any at all, to legislation produced by lawmakers.