Deputy governor quizzed over diploma<\/p>\n
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan<\/p>\n
The North Sumatra provincial council's plenary meeting had to be
\npostponed following tension among council members demanding that
\nDeputy Governor Rudolf Pardede give an explanation about the
\nvalidity of his high school diploma, which some have alleged to
\nbe a fake.<\/p>\n
The meeting, which was supposed to hear each of the factions'
\nfinal responses over the 2004 provincial budget spending, went on
\nfor five hours before it was agreed that it would be postponed
\nuntil Sept. 28.<\/p>\n
The council's speaker, Abdul Wahab Dalimunte said the meeting
\nhad to be postponed to cool off the situation as the tension was
\nmaking it impossible for the meeting to go on.<\/p>\n
The tension started when several factions, such as the
\nProsperous Justice Party (PKS) and Reform Star Party (PBR),
\nquestioned the legality of the deputy governor's diploma.<\/p>\n
The two factions objected when the meeting's schedule included
\na speech by Rudolf on behalf of late governor Rizal Nurdin. They
\nargued that if he were allowed to deliver the speech, it meant
\nthe council had tacitly agreed on his appointment as acting
\ngovernor.<\/p>\n
The council has not yet discussed who should be appointed as
\nacting governor since the governor's term was to end in three
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the PKS faction, Sigit Pramono Asri, said that his
\nfaction rejected Rudolf because he was still a suspect in the
\ncase of an alleged fake diploma. He said Rudolf was named a
\nsuspect in the case by the police two years ago and his status
\nhad not changed.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the PBR faction, Muhammad Rade Syafi'i, said that
\nhe did not deny that Rudolf, based on Law 32\/2004 on local
\nadministrations, should be next in line to become governor.<\/p>\n
However, Rudolf should be able to properly explain the
\nlegality of his diploma.<\/p>\n
\"If it (the clarification) is not done, then Rudolf's
\nleadership would not be effective and can obstruct the province's
\ndevelopment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Following the death of governor Rizal Nurdin in the tragic
\nMandala crash in Medan, protesters flooded the streets to express
\ntheir rejection of Rudolf as acting governor.<\/p>\n
On Monday, protesters claiming to be from the North Sumatra
\nPeople's Front for Justice staged a protest outside the
\nprovincial council, but they were prevented by the police from
\nentering the building.<\/p>\n
Apart from rejecting Rudolf, the protesters also demanded that
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set a date to hold direct
\nelections for a new governor and deputy governor.<\/p>\n
The North Sumatra police on Friday declared that it would
\nfollow up the investigation into Rudolf's alleged fake diploma
\nand that they had already sent a team of four officers to West
\nJava town of Sukabumi to investigate the case.<\/p>\n
Chief of North Sumatra Police, Insp. Gen. Iwan Pandjiwinata,
\nurged people to be patient and wait for the investigation to
\nconclude.<\/p>\n
\"The police are still investigating the case of the alleged
\nfake diploma and I hope people will wait for its result,\" Iwan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The case first emerged when Rudolf failed to include his high
\nschool diploma as he was about to run for deputy governor two
\nyears ago. Instead of including his diploma, Rudolf only included
\na piece of a paper, which stated that he studied at SMUK BPK
\nPenabur high school in Sukabumi.<\/p>\n
The story surfaced when the school's principal Martha
\nChristiawati, whose name was the letter, retracted her statement
\nand reportedly said in another letter, given to Nusantara
\nCorruption Watch, that the school had never had a student by the
\nname of Rudolf Pardede.<\/p>",
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