Golkar's threat of dismissal criticized

The Jakarta Post, Kupang/Medan

Golkar Party councillors in East Nusa Tenggara slammed the party's threat to dismiss members who did not vote for the party's candidates in the provincial gubernatorial election on Thursday.

Councillor Frans Dima Lendes, who is on the dismissal list, said on Friday the plan was unwise and would lead to Golkar's defeat in the 2004 legislative elections.

"I personally think that dismissing councillors will not solve the problem. In fact, it will lead to Golkar's defeat in next year's general election. It is an unwise step to take," he was quoted as saying by Antara.

Lendes acknowledged that he said during an earlier internal meeting of the Golkar Party faction that he would not vote for Golkar's candidates Esthon Foenay and Gaspar Parang Ehok. He did not elaborate on why he refused to vote for the pair, but said he remained a true Golkar member.

Foenay and Ehok lost in the first round of the gubernatorial election after garnering only 10 of 55 votes.

Piet A. Tallo and Frans Lebu Raya, backed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), won the election with 28 votes, beating out Viktor B. Laiskodak and Simon Hayon of the Coalition faction, who received 27 votes.

The council's deputy speaker, Nico Woly, said Tallo and Frans would now face a public assessment, a process that will last until Monday and during which members of the public can convey any complaints about the governor and deputy governor-elect.

A similar situation occurred in Lampung, where 16 councillors from PDI Perjuangan were dismissed by the party on Wednesday following the defeat of the party's candidates in the gubernatorial election on Dec. 30, 2002.

In Medan, governor-elect T. Rizal Nurdin denied rumors that he would replace several top officials in the North Sumatra provincial administration due to their opposition to his and deputy governor-elect Rudolf Pardede's election.

"It is not true. Change in the administration is a routine process of improving the employees' skills and knowledge. It has nothing to do with supporting or opposing my election," he told The Jakarta Post.

Rizal said that in general all of the officials in the administration had performed well and none of them were involved in the election.

He also said changes in the administration had been planned long before he was elected on May 26.

"Rotating officials can't be done based on likes and dislikes, not in my administration," he said.

Rizal said a team had been established to supervise the changes.