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.