Council defies public hopes with draft election rules
Council defies public hopes with draft election rules
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The City Council's special committee completed on Wednesday the draft of the gubernatorial election regulation, which, if enacted, would limit certain candidates' chances of being elected and ignore public participation.
According to Article 4 of the draft regulation, a governor from outside Jakarta seeking nomination as City Governor must obtain a presidential permit and be approved by their provincial council.
The article is seen as a measure to halt the nomination of the incumbent Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, Harun Alrasyid, who has reportedly expressed his willingness to become the next governor of Jakarta.
Harun, who is Jakarta's former deputy governor, was reportedly nominated by the former ruling Golkar Party, which has eight seats in the provincial council.
The special committee's deputy chairman, Sugeng Suprijatna, rejected claims on Wednesday that the article was set up to block the nomination of Harun, saying it matched Government Regulation No. 108/1999 on gubernatorial elections.
Sugeng, who is from Golkar, also denied that his party nominated Harun as a candidate for the post of city governor.
"We heard that Harun wants to be elected, but he has never asked our party and we have not talked to him about it," he claimed.
The existing Article 4 states that a governor should obtain a presidential permit and the council's approval. This means that current City Governor Sutiyoso would find it difficult to be nominated, because, as matters stand, he could not obtain such approval easily.
But on Tuesday, in the draft regulation, the committee added the words "from outside Jakarta" to the article.
Separately, Jakarta Study Center (PPJ) secretary Ganda Hutabarat, claimed the article limited people's right to be nominated.
"The regulation should not be discriminative. The Governor of South Sumatra should be nominated for Jakarta Governor if he is capable and nominated by council factions here," Ganda said on Wednesday.
He was disappointed that the council had formulated the regulation draft without inviting public participation, saying that the past two weeks should have been "a time for informing the public".
But the council's special committee has completed the regulation draft, which is likely to be approved by the council on May 27, without giving any opportunity for the public to analyze and discuss it, he said.
"The draft regulation has suddenly been completed today. The council should have held a media conference and requested feedback from the public," he said.
Besides Harun and Sutiyoso, City Secretary Fauzi Bowo, the council's deputy chairman, Tarmidi Suhardjo, and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI Perjuangan) deputy chairman, Roy BB. Janis, were mentioned as strong candidates.
Tarmidi, who is also city chapter chairman of the largest political party, PDI Perjuangan, reportedly asked Fauzi to be his deputy governor in the election, which is scheduled in October this year.
PDI Perjuangan has 30 seats in the 83-seat council.
Chairman of Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) would nominate human rights, women activist Nursjahbani Katjasungkana as an alternative gubernatorial candidate.
"Although there would only be a small chance of success for her, it would at least be a breakthrough," Tigor said on Wednesday.
He admitted having met with the National Awakening Party (PKB) to discuss Nursjahbani's nomination and said the party would consider nominating her.