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.