ABRI dominates provincial legislative body leadership

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)