Sumbawa Parliament criticized over plans to visit Jakarta
Thursday, November 30 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The plans by the Sumbawa district Parliament in East Nusa Tenggara Province to send 22 legislators to Jakarta amid tight budget condition has been strongly criticized by the local Radar Sumbawa daily.
The paper questioned the necessity of the planned visit and the huge number of the traveling group.
The visit to Jakarta by the legislators and several administration executives was aimed at obtaining complete information about the new power the Sumbawa administration would gain when the regional autonomy policy is implemented in January 2001.
Legislators would also question Jakarta about the mechanism in the transfer of mining royalty of gold and copper mining firm PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT).
Speaker of the Sumbawa Parliament M. Amin defended the planned visit, saying that it was a priority to seek solution to various problems of the region. He said that the budget to finance the visit would come from the local administration budget.
"The visit is very urgent to anticipate the implementation of the regional autonomy policy," Amin said. (*)