Councillors unsure about attending governor installation

Councillors unsure about attending governor installation

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Several North Sumatra councillors have yet to make up their mind
to attend the installation of governor-elect T. Rizal Nurdin and
deputy Rudolf Pardede due to their disappointment over the
presidential decree naming them as the new leaders of the
province.

Councillor Aziz Angkat of Golkar Party faction said on
Saturday that he was disappointed as the allegation that Pardede
had submitted a fake high school diploma for his candidacy was
still unsolved.

"We already have evidence of Pardede's fake diploma and we
have handed it over to the Ministry of Home Affairs but the
central government has still decided to install him as deputy
governor," he said.

However, Aziz said that so far there was no official
instruction from the party to boycott the ceremony, which is
slated for Monday. Home minister Hari Sabarno is scheduled to
swear in Rizal and Pardede.

Councillor Sigit Pramono Asri of the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS) said that he had also not made a decision to attend the
installation ceremony.

"My attendance depends on my party's stance," he said, adding
that he had not received any invitation for Monday's event.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also chairwoman of
the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
signed the presidential decree on June 13 naming Rizal and
Pardede as the North Sumatra governor and deputy governor
respectively.

Both Rizal and Pardede were nominated by PDI Perjuangan and
won the vote on May 26 against nominees Chairuman Harahap and
Serta Ginting of Golkar Party.

Pardede -- son of the late T.D. Pardede, a successful
businessman -- failed to show his high school diploma when
running for the province's number two position.

The 1999 regional autonomy law requires gubernatorial and
deputy gubernatorial candidates to at least be senior high school
graduates with a senior high school diploma before they can run
for governor.

Councillor Kamaluddin Harahap of the National Awakening Party
(PAN) said that although Pardede would be sworn in on Monday, the
legal process must go on.

He said that Government Regulation No. 151 states that if any
candidate for governor or deputy governor was proven to have
submitted a fake diploma, he or she should be removed from the
position.

"The position will remain vacant for five years until the next
gubernatorial election," he added.

The governor will carry on his duties with the assistance of
provincial secretary and the staff.

The North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Amrin Karim said
the police have not declared Pardede guilty because a team was
still investigating the case in the Penabur Sukabumi Christian
high school.

The school principal Martha Christiawati said in a letter
dated May 28, 2003, that there was no student named Rudolf
Mazuoka Pardede in the school's records.