Councilors boycott session to endorse deputy governor

JAKARTA (JP): A special plenary session of the city council called to endorse the sole candidate for deputy governor for economic and financial affairs was canceled when councilors refused to attend the session on Tuesday.

According to the councilors, the candidate, Fauzie Alvi Yasin, who currently is the assistant to the city secretary in charge of administrative affairs, did not have a permit letter for his candidacy from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Some of the councilors said their refusal to attend the plenary session also was meant to express their disapproval of Governor Sutiyoso's decision to name only one candidate for the position.

"The governor proposed only one candidate for the post, which means that there's no democracy or transparency," the adviser to the United Development Party's (PPP) faction in the council, Rusjdi Hamka, said.

Council speaker Edy Waluyo, who was to preside over the session, also failed to appear. Some councilors said Edy set the date of the session without consulting them.

The session was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.

While dozens of senior city officials, including the heads of several city agencies, waited for the session to begin, the 75 city councilors from the four factions in the council failed to arrive for the meeting.

Members of the Golkar faction were holding a closed-door meeting in the building, while members of the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction met in another room.

The sole representative of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Lukman Mokoginta, also decided to stay in his office.

None of the council members from the PPP faction, which strongly opposes Sutiyoso's selection process for the candidate, were seen at the building.

At 10:05 a.m., Lukman, head of the ABRI faction Sumekar, and head of the Golkar faction Fatommy Asaari held a 10-minute meeting in Sumekar's office, a few steps away from where the planned plenary session was to be held.

After the meeting, a council staffer announced the plenary session was "adjourned until further notice".

According to Fatommy, the boycott was meant "to show solidarity" with the PPP's opposition of the selection process.

The position, which is temporarily being handled by deputy governor for development affairs Budihardjo Sukmadi, has been vacant since the middle of last year after then deputy governor for economic and financial affairs Harun Al Rasyid was promoted to governor of West Nusa Tenggara.

In February, Governor Sutiyoso announced he would nominate Fauzie as the only candidate for the post after six possible candidates were screened by the Position and Stratification Advisory Body.

The five other nominees were city secretary Fauzi Bowo, head of the city development planning agency Bambang Sungkono, head of city investment management Maskup Ustianto, head of the city inspectorate office Sutardjianto and head of the PPP faction in the City Council Achmad Suaidy.

The election process has been opposed by several councilors, who demanded the process be based on the newly endorsed Law No. 4/1999 on the formation and position of the People's Consultative Assembly, the House of Representatives and Regional Councils.

The law stipulates the City Council has the authority to elect the governor and deputy governors.

Administration officials, however, wanted the election process to follow a 1974 law which states the City Council only has the right to approve candidates chosen by the administration.

Separately at City Hall, the governor said there was still confusion at the Ministry of Home Affairs over the issue of the permit letter.

"The ministry states that such a process within the administration doesn't need a permit letter.

"But according to a directive from the directorate general for general administration and regional autonomy in the ministry, such a process needs the (permit) letter," he said.

Sutiyoso said he would immediately obtain a permit letter from the ministry if it was required by the council. (ind)