Edy Waluyo to resign from council for election
Edy Waluyo to resign from council for election
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The City Council chairman, Edy Waluyo, will likely run in the
next gubernatorial elections following his retirement scheduled
for June.
At the same time, council also has received seven names of
candidates for governor and the deputies.
One City Hall source revealed on Tuesday that the Indonesian
Military (TNI) headquarters would replace Edy -- a councillor of
the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction -- with Brig. Gen.
Lintang Waluyo, who is currently the Jakarta Military Command
chief of staff.
"A general at TNI headquarters told one of the governor's
deputies about the plan to replace Edy with Lintang," the source
said.
The replacement, according to the source, was to allow Edy, as
a retired army major general, to join the election which will
take place in October.
The 57-year-old Edy will likely have to run against the
incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, also a retired lieutenant general.
Sutiyoso, who has been criticized for his administration's
poor performance in handling the flooding problems in early
February, had announced earlier that he would seek re-election
for another term.
Since the New Order regime, Jakarta has always had governor
with a military background.
However, Edy denied that he was planning to retire, saying
that his duties at the council have been extended to June 2003,
from June 2000.
"A major-general is entitled to three extensions of three-year
periods of service before he finally retires," he said, declining
to say whether he would run for governor.
Edy and Sutiyoso are not the only military figures running in
the election. State Intelligence Body (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. (ret)
A.M. Hendropriyono has also been tipped as another strong
candidate.
The only strong civilian candidate is City Secretary Fauzi
Bowo, who gained full support from the Betawi Collective Body
(Bamus).
Besides the big names, the council secretariat has also
received seven names to run for candidacy in the election.
The Unity Party, which only has one seat at the council, has
officially proposed businessman Mahfud Djailani, who owns Maktour
travel agency, and accountant Dolly Depari Siregar as governor
and deputy governor, respectively.
The council has also received nominations of M. Sanip, a
retired lieutenant general; Abdul Rajak, a director of Husni
Thamrin hospital; businessman Benyamin Saleh, and businessman P.
Sudono Waluyanto as governor candidates.
It also received the name of Zainuddin Abdul Azis, a member of
the People's Consultative Assembly, as a deputy governor
candidate.
Most of the candidates have nominated themselves in their
personal letters.