Bima Mayor Sparks Outrage After Appointing Wife and Cousin to Official Posts, Home Affairs Ministry Sends Team
The Mayor of Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, A. Rahman alias Aji Man, has sparked public attention after appointing 89 officials, including his wife and a cousin. The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) has deployed a team to investigate the process of appointing his close relatives.
“Yes, it is true that a team from Kemendagri has been deployed,” said the Acting Head of the Bima City Inspectorate, Adhie Aulia, when confirmed on Wednesday (8/7/2026). He did not detail the specific purpose of the ministry’s visit but confirmed that the team’s deployment was related to the recent appointment of 89 officials within the Bima City Government. “The Kemendagri team has returned to Jakarta. We are just waiting for the report,” he explained.
It was previously reported that Mayor A. Rahman appointed his wife, Badrah Ekawati, as Secretary of the City Health Office and an individual alleged to be his brother-in-law, M. Auwalyah, as Head of the General Affairs Bureau of the Regional Secretariat. The swearing-in and appointment of his wife took place alongside 87 other officials at the Maja Labo Dahu Hall, Bima City Government, on Wednesday (1/7/2026). The Mayor was also known to have previously appointed his cousin, Irwansyah, as Head of the Goods and Services Procurement Bureau at the Regional Secretariat.
Responding to the matter, Aji Man stated that the appointment of his wife as Secretary of the Health Office was not a promotion. He claimed she was merely returned to the position she originally held in 2016. “I returned her to her original position. So, she is not an echelon II official. She is an echelon III official, so you have to look at her competence and track record. She was previously non-job due to the regional elections,” he said in Mataram on Tuesday (7/7/2026).
Aji Man also denied that the 87 echelon III and echelon II appointments included his brother-in-law, as had been alleged. He insisted the person referred to as his brother-in-law has no family relation to him and urged the public to verify the information directly to avoid being trapped by unverified issues. “If they say he is my brother-in-law, that is slander. There is no brother-in-law. Just check it, come to Bima. Where is my brother-in-law? It can be seen,” he asserted.