Convicted council speaker supported
Convicted council speaker supported
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Pinang
Despite being sentenced to three years' jail for forgery, Tanjung
Pinang city council speaker Bobby Jayanto cannot legally be
removed from his position, councillors supporting him claim.
Deputy council speaker Maria Titiek P. Angesti, of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction, said that based
on Law 32/2004 on regional government and Law No. 22/2003 on the
composition of legislative bodies as well as the municipal
council guidelines, a replacement could only be made if he was
convicted and the penalty had "permanent legal power".
"But Bobby Jayanto is still appealing the case and taking
other legal measures. According to existing regulations, he is
still the Tanjung Pinang municipal council speaker until the
Tanjung Pinang court verdict has permanent legal power," Maria
told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Tanjung Pinang District Court in Riau Islands
province handed down the sentence to Bobby after he was proven
guilty of using a fake senior high school diploma when running
for the council.
Bobby, of the Pancasila Patriots Party, is serving his 2004-
2009 office term for the municipality.
The verdict was less than the five years requested by
prosecutors for Bobby, who faked a senior high school equivalency
diploma supposed to have been issued by the Jakarta province's
Education Office. The Tanjung Pinang Police received a letter
from the office, confirming it had no record of him ever taking
the test.
"If all the councillors demand the election of a new council
speaker, and it is conducted according to the existing
procedures, it's fine. But so far, the councillors still find it
unnecessary to replace the council speaker," Maria said.
Another councillor, Muhammad Arif of the Prosperous Justice
Party, said on Tuesday there was no discussion among the
councillors to replace Bobby following the court decision.
"We're still waiting for the (appeal process) before he can be
replaced," Muhammad said
Hajjrullah of Tanjung Pinang's Mosque Communication Forum, the
organization, which reported Bobby's fake diploma to the police,
said it was high time the city councillors replaced the speaker
with a better leader.
However, Bobby's lawyer, Hendie Devitra, said his client would
appeal the verdict to the Pekanbaru High Court, saying the case
was politically motivated and had been exaggerated by Bobby's
enemies who wanted him out of the council.
"The appeal will be immediately proposed to the High Court. We
find that the Tanjung Pinang District Court has not been
objective. The fake diploma mentioned by the prosecutor was not
tabled in the court as evidence. Bobby has not been proven
guilty," Hendie said.