Fadel to be sworn in as Gorontalo governor

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After months of uncertainty, Golkar Party treasurer Fadel Muhammad will be installed on Monday as Gorontalo's first governor.

The installation will be conducted by Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno who left here for Gorontalo on Sunday.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri officially endorsed Fadel as the elected governor in a decree dated Nov. 30.

Fadel's inauguration had been up in the air for some time after his credibility was questioned by some sections of the Gorontalo community.

But the Gorontalo Provincial Council (DPRD) remained firmly behind him after electing him as governor and Gusnar Ismail as his deputy on Sept. 12 as the newly formed province's leaders.

The presidential decree said both Fadel and Gusnar met all required legal and procedural conditions to be installed as governor and deputy governor of Gorontalo.

Gorontalo, previously part of North Sulawesi, was established as a separate province in February.

However, the gubernatorial election of Fadel has drawn strong protests from various circles in the province, with critics citing his poor track record and claiming money politics was involved in the election.

Some groups in the local community members wrote to Megawati and the home minister to express their disapproval of Fadel, but recently a delegation from the provincial council came to Jakarta and apparently succeeded to lobby for his inauguration.

Public resistance also stems from a recent court decision declaring one of Fadel's companies bankrupt because of irregularities in his deals with business partners.

Fadel has also been linked to the high-profile financial scandal involving Rp 40 billion in funds from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) implicating House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung.