Council rejects speech by Temanggung regent

Council rejects speech by Temanggung regent

Suherdjoko and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Temanggung, Central Java

All but one of the Temanggung councillors rejected an
accountability speech by Temanggung Regent Totok Ary Prabowo on
Thursday, possibly foreshadowing his ouster.

The Temanggung council now plans to launch an investigation
over allegations of corruption and abuse of power by the regent,
before they file a recommendation to the President to request
Totok's dismissal.

The two tough decisions on Thursday afternoon came after the
regent failed earlier in the morning to convince the councillors
in a plenary meeting that he had not been arrogant and was not
corrupt in leading the regency.

The embattled regent had earlier tried explain his
controversial policies, but that apparently fell on deaf ears.

Concerning the allegations that he had abused his power by
indiscriminately rotating many officials in the regency, the
regent said that the measures were aimed at putting the right
people in the best roles for them. He also explained that he
never prohibited a group of district heads from testifying to the
police on his alleged involvement in a graft case concerning the
2004 election fund.

"The district heads are my subordinates and before the police
can question them, the police must ask for my permission first,"
he said.

However, the lengthy explanations were still rejected by the
44 of the 45 councillors at the legislature. Shortly after the
speech, the councillors formally decided to investigate the
regent.

Bambang Soekarno, the speaker of the Temanggung council, said
that the investigation would be conducted very soon.

Following the rejection, Totok quickly left the council
building and simply said: "I have done my best."

The brouhaha in Temanggung came to a head last Friday after
more than 100 middle- and high-ranking civil servants in the
regency issued a motion of no confidence against the regent. They
still turned up at their respective offices but did not wear
their uniforms and did not obey the regent's orders. The civil
servants claimed that the regent was a corrupt authoritarian.

That "white-collar rebellion" was followed up by a massive
protest on Wednesday, which saw some 10,000 people take to the
streets to demand the regent's resignation. The Temanggung
council swiftly responded to the protest by holding a plenary
meeting on Wednesday and Thursday which resulted in the
aforementioned accountability speech.

A similar series of protests took place in Kampar regency last
year and resulted in the eventual ouster of Kampar Regent Jefri
Noer.