ABRI dominates provincial legislative body leadership
JAKARTA (JP): The election of provincial council chairmanships, now underway across the country, has seen the military gain an upper hand.
While most elections held over the weekend saw military officers gain positions, the Armed Forces faction had a tough time against dominant Golkar in Irian Jaya before clinching the top post in the province's legislative body.
The Armed Forces, whose members do not vote, has some council seats in the country's 27 provinces reserved for it, the number of which depends on the population of each province. Elections will continue this week.
Antara reported that Col. R. Sitorus became the unlikely winner over Golkar candidate Bima in Jayapura, Irian Jaya. The election, which started Tuesday, went into unexpected voting after preelection favorite Bima, a retired military officer, refused to step down. Bima said he was recommended by the province's Golkar leadership.
Sitorus eventually won 27 of 36 votes.
Voting serves as a last resort -- and sometimes is avoided -- in the political decision-making process in Indonesia. Deliberation is widely used to reach an agreement.
Bima should have been a favorite from the start simply because Golkar dominated with 32 councilors. The Armed Forces only had nine representatives, while the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP) had three and one respectively.
As if to add insult to injury, Bima was sidelined from the council's leadership board. Instead, the council picked Bima's colleagues, Abraham Kuruwaib and Nathaniel Kaiway, as deputy chairmen.
Sitorus and his two deputies are scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow.
In Yogyakarta, Col. Subagio Waryadi won unanimous support for the top position in the province's legislative body after his lone contender, Suprastowo of Golkar, withdrew.
Suprastowo had to be content with the deputy chairmanship post he shared with fellow Golkar cadre Khaeruddin S.S. and Herman Abdurrahman of PPP.
Southeast Sulawesi elected Col. Saleh Lasata chairman of the provincial council for the 1997/2002 period. All 45 councilors supported the nomination of the former Bone regent.
Edy Agussalim Mokodompit and Siradjuddin Jarudju, both from Golkar, were appointed as Lasata's deputies.
Other military officers, Col. Iskak and Col. Sutarwas, had triumphed in their respective contests in North Sumatra and East Java respectively on Wednesday. They were inducted separately on Saturday.
Golkar made up for the losses in Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan with the victories of Dwiter Mangkurasi and Soenarso in the respective provinces on Saturday.
PDI did not receive a leadership seat on legislative bodies in most of the country's provinces because it failed to win any seat or to meet minimum representation. (21/nur/amd)