Bogor mayor's tenure extended

BOGOR (JP): Bogor Mayor Eddy Gunardi's tenure, which was scheduled to end on March 7, was extended until further notice by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the absence of suitable candidates to replace him, an official said.

"Information about the extension of the mayor's tenure was passed on to the mayoralty through the West Java governor's letter dated March 6," the mayoralty's spokesman Hari Harsono said.

Hari said a new mayor was to be elected on Feb. 15 to replace Eddy. However, the election was indefinitely postponed as the Bogor council speaker Eman Akman refused to approve and ratify the five existing candidates on the grounds that they did not meet administrative requirements.

The five candidates were identified as Chaerudin A. Nawawi, Endang Kurnia, R. Iswara Natanegara, Usman Zakaria and Syafei Bratasenjaya.

This refusal caused public protests and demonstrations in which protesters once managed to 'occupy' the council and force the council's speaker to propose Kurnia as a candidate.

This proposal, however, was rejected by West Java Governor R. Nuriana as Kurnia failed to meet requirements.

The council then proposed Rumawan Sadeli as a candidate. A proposal for his election was signed by two of the Bogor city council's deputy speakers.

"Although this proposal was not signed by the council speaker, it is still legitimate since the council has a collective leadership," deputy speaker Eman Sulaeman said.

He said the West Java governor accepted the proposal in principle, but questioned why the council speaker still refused to give his approval. (24/jun)