Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/30/2010 8:40
Golkar Party lawmaker Nudirman Munir insisted that a stopover in Turkey by lawmakers, including himself, had not violated any House regulations. Therefore, he added, there was no need to follow up the recent report made by several NGO activists.
“We have solid prove that the two-day trip was made due to the unavailability of tickets. Besides, the trip was arranged by the travel agent and not us, so don’t put the blame on us,” he told journalists after the installation of the new ethics council members Tuesday.
Nudirman was recorded to have been involved in a heated debate with former council speaker Gayus Lumbuun over the allegation of wrongdoing by eight council members during their homeward trip from Greece last month.
Gayus at that time suspected that the two-day stopover in Turkey had clearly violated the House’s code of conduct and therefore suggested a preliminary examination was in order to determine whether there was a strong indication of misconduct or not.
The heated debate between Gayus and eight of his fellow travelers then led to the House leaders’ decision to recall all members from the council. However, only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) recalled all members, including Gayus Lumbuun. Most of the other parties kept their representatives in the council.
via Ethics council members defend Turkey trip | The Jakarta Post.