Jakarta globe, Anita Rachman | August 08, 2010
Jakarta. House Commission III overseeing legal affairs plans to discuss lawmaker safety following a maritime mishap that left a legislator and the wife of another dead in North Sulawesi over the weekend.
“We will seriously discuss the issue that state officials, including members of the House, should also get protection at sea,” Achmad Dimyati, a lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP), said on Sunday.
Dimyati himself had been on board the boat that overturned in Manado. Some 20 lawmakers, some with their families, were aboard.
Setia Permana, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Wahyu Nurani, wife of Democratic lawmaker Sutjipto, drowned in the accident.
Dimyati said there should be more rigid standards at sea, “not only for state officials, but for all the people. And not only in North Sulawesi, but also across the archipelago.”
He said the doomed ship was not seaworthy, and didn’t receive adequate rescue assistance.
“The boat was not in proper condition,” he said.
“We are sorry that the captain is being held by the police, but there should be someone held responsible for this, so that this same kind of thing won’t happen in the future.”
North Sulawesi Police spokesman Benny Bella told the Jakarta Globe by telephone that the captain, Alex Lahengko, 34, was being detained by the police.
“We aren’t detaining people just because the victims were lawmakers or their families, this is the normal treatment,” he said.
However, Commission III member Nudirman Munir, who was also on the boat when it capsized, said that it was unfair to blame the incident on the captain.
He said the local government should be held responsible because it did not strictly apply and check the safety standards of all boats in the area.
“The municipality of Manado should be held responsible for this,” he said. “The captain is just a regular worker. [The accident happened at] a recreational area. Many people, including foreign tourists, come there. How come they don’t have first aid or lifeguards on the beach?”
Nudirman said that the commission would ask local governments to do a better job of managing their territorial waters.
“Not only in Manado, but in all places, in Maluku and Irian Jaya [Papua], there should be water police patrols and beach guards.
“The police should add to their teams covering the water,” the lawmaker said, adding that local governments should also prohibit people from operating old boats.
Nudirman also took the opportunity to say that lawmakers were not given enough money on working visits to far-off regions. “Rupiah 15 million ($1,700) for a working visit, including the flight and the transportation and the protocols, that’s not enough,” he said.
Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the PDI-P, said that she also got about Rp 15 million for the three- day working visit.
She said the sailing trip had been optional, and several lawmakers, including Ruhut Sitompul, from the Democratic Party, skipped it.
“It was a tragedy,” she said. “If there was really a mistake, it was with the operational standards.
“Without a standardized operational system, people will become victims,” she said.
“Don’t take notice just because the victims were lawmakers. The same treatment should be given to everyone,” she said.
