Collective Egoism of Indonesian House

The House of Representatives (DPR) needs to reconsider its plan to build a Rp1.1 trillion office tower in response to a storm of protests against the plan, a political observer said.
"This is necessary because of many objections to the plan to build a new House of Representatives (DPR) building. What is more, the building will be very costly," Arie Sujito of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said here on Sunday.
If the House pushed through the plan it would mean that the House ignored public aspirations and lacked sensitivity to the condition of the people. Consequently, the people’s confidence in the parliament would decline, he said.
"The DPR is now under the spotlight. The decision to push through the plan to build a new tower implies that the vast majority of DPR members care only about themselves at the expense of the people’s interests," he said.
He stated the construction of a new tower would have no significant impact on the performance of DPR members. The small office of DPR members should not be made an excuse for their lackluster performance.
"What is more, the construction of office rooms for the DPR members will cost Rp800 million each. Some quarters have questioned the higher amount of funds," he said.
The decision to go ahead with the project implied that most of DPR members had been infected by collective egoism. "DPR is considered egoistic because they have paid no attention to the aspirations of the people opposing the plan to build a new tower," he said.