DPR Members Still to Visit Australia
Wednesday, 12 April, 2006 | 20:19 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Seven members of Commission I of the House of Representatives (DPR) are still going to leave for a visit to Australia.

“We only wait for the arrangements to be schedules by the DPR Secretary General and the Australian parliament,” Jeffrey Johanes Massie, a member of Commission I, told reporters after meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla yesterday (11/4).

Jeffrey, who is a member of the delegation, said that the visit by the team, which is led by Commission I Chairman, Theo L. Sambuaga, aims to ask for clarification regarding the visas granted by the Australian government.

The granting of temporary visas, he said, meant confirmation of the asylum seekers' statement that there had been a massacre in Papua.

Jeffrey disputed that the DPR leaders do not agree with the departure of seven of its members.

He said that the DPR Chairman, Agung Laksono gave his support to the team.

“Bilateral and multilateral discussions between the two parliaments are very likely,” said Jeffrey, quoting a statement by Agung.

Oktamandjaya Wiguna