Business on hold amid uncertainty

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Developers and contractors in Depok are putting their businesses on hold due to uncertainty over who won the recent mayoral election.

Depok Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi Depok) chairman Edi Sitorus said that many businesspeople there, particularly contractors and developers, had postponed projects as they were worried that the next mayor, whoever he might be, could issue policies that would hurt their interests.

"They want to wait and see what the business policies of the next mayor will be," Edi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

For the past six months, Depok, a bustling satellite town on the outskirt of Jakarta, has been led by an acting mayor as the dispute over who won the June 26 mayoral election drags on.

The Depok General Elections Commission (KPUD Depok) declared Nur Mahmudi Ismail of the Prosperous Justice Party to be the winner last July, but the West Java High Court issued a final and conclusive ruling declaring Badrul Kamal of Golkar Party to be the winner.

The ruling sparked anger among PKS supporters and prompted the KPUD Depok to file for a review of the ruling.

Edi said the acting mayor was unable to make quick decisions on, for example, how to minimize the impact of the fuel price hikes on the price of construction materials, which had gone up by an average of 25 percent since September.

"For contractors like us, this is intolerable. The administration should immediately set the maximum prices for construction materials. I have contacted officials in the Depok administration but they said they could not make such decisions," he said.

Edi, who currently has a construction project in the municipality, said that with such high prices, many contractors had decided to put their projects on hold in the hope of lower prices later.

Several other businessmen, he said, had also delayed their projects as they were worried that they would have to make new deals with the new mayor later on.

The Supreme Court announced earlier this week that it would issue a ruling on who won the election after the Idul Fitri holiday, forcing the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday to extend the term of acting mayor Warma Sutarman.

Businessman Sofyan said that he had to put several business deals worth billions of rupiah on hold as his partners wanted to wait to see who was eventually declared the victor in the election.

"They just don't want to take the risk that they will have to renegotiate the deal with the definitive mayor later on. It would be a waste of money and energy," he told the Post without specifying which projects were involved.

Another problem that needed to be resolved quickly was demands by Depok workers for a raise in the minimum wage.

Around 1,000 workers from various companies in Depok staged a rally on Wednesday, demanding that the local minimum wage be raised to Rp 1.2 million following the fuel price hikes.

"This will affect our businesses as well," Sofyan said.

While acknowledging that uncertainty over the election had caused problems, Amri Yusra, a Depok councillor from the PKS, said that the council had delegated more powers to Warma to allow him to make essential decisions.

"We are now at a meeting to discuss budget revisions submitted by the acting mayor. This shows that we have given him the power to amend the budget. We will also give him the other powers he needs. I think Depok people shouldn't worry as his decisions are as binding as those of the elected mayor," Amri told the Post.