City Council vote to be private

City Council vote to be private

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In compliance with an existing standing order, the City Council
will sit in closed-door session on Friday morning to elect its
new speaker for the 2004-2009 term, despite suggestions by some
members that a more transparent process be adopted.

"Personally, I would prefer a public session to ensure
fairness. But, since the standing orders are there, we have no
choice but to comply with them," said Ahmad Heryawan of the
council's largest faction, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

He was referring to Article 57 of Law No. 22/2003 on the
organizational structure of local legislative councils, which
stipulates that the election of a council speaker should be
carried out in accordance with the council's standing orders.

Article 101 of the standing orders states that any session
held to elect an officeholder must be held in camera. By
comparison, a session held to vote on an institutional matter may
be held in public, he added.

Heryawan and Ade Surapriatna of the Golkar Party faction are
being touted as the front runners to secure the speakership.

The race for the speakership race is set to be tight as, on
paper at least, nine of the 11 factions on the council have
divided up into two alliances to support one or the other of the
two front runners.

On paper, Heryawan has the votes of at least 38 of the total
71 members of the council, with support coming from an alliance
of the PKS, Democratic Party and National Mandate Party (PAN)
factions. Meanwhile, Ade has 33 votes from the Nationhood
Coalition, which comprises the Golkar Party, Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Prosperous Peace Party,
Reform Star Party (PBR) and National Awakening Party (PKB)
factions.

Ade, who has been in a councillor for the last 20 years, and
is also the richest councillor according to the Public Servants
Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN), expressed optimism that he could
beat Heryawan.

"We have a solid coalition ... not to mention that some votes
from PAN will come to me," he asserted.

Meanwhile, the PDI-P and the Democratic Party factions have
separately nominated their own candidates: Maringan Pangaribuan
and Ilal Ferhard respectively. Previously, the Democratic Party
had nominated Abdul Muthalib Shihab.

"But, we decided to replace him with Ilal, partly due to his
communications skills. Jakarta, as the country's capital, needs a
person who is familiar with international relations," said Johny
Wenas Polii of the Democratic Party faction.

Ilal graduated from a university in the United States of
America.

Meanwhile, Governor Sutiyoso said his administration would
welcome the results of the election, whoever won.

"We hope that they can improve their performance, including
arriving on time for hearings."

He has repeatedly complained about the council's poor
productivity.

The previous council had left itself with more than 10 bylaws
to pass in the month before its term ended in August.

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I-Box

Declared assets of speakership candidates

Ahmad Heryawan

Fixed assets: Land and buildings -- Rp 60 million
Transferable assets: Vehicles, home appliances, etc.-- Rp 94.5 million
Accounts receivable: Rp 14 million + US$ 1,900
Total assets: Rp 387 million and $1,900

Ade Surapriatna

Fixed assets: Land and buildings -- Rp 3.52 billion
Transferable assets: Vehicles, home appliances, etc. -- Rp 2.27 billion
Total assets: Rp 5.793 billion

Source: The Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN)