Councilors boycott session to endorse deputy governor
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)