Government forms team on Sunarto dismissal

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The central government's stance on the recent removal from office of Surabaya Mayor Sunarto Sumaprawiro has softened, and it has decided to set up an independent team to study the case.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said on Monday that he had ordered the East Java governor to recruit political, legal and constitutional experts to serve on the team. He further said that the government's response to the mayor's removal would be based on the team's recommendations.

"Let the independent team work without interference to study whether the Surabaya legislative council's decision to impeach the mayor was valid or not," he said during a break from a coordinating meeting with governors and regents here on Monday.

He added that the government would not be represented on the team so as to let it carry out its review objectively.

Asked about the deadline for the completion of the team's review, the minister said the government would not set any deadline so as to allow the team to work freely and independently.

Bambang D.H., the Surabaya deputy mayor, has been in charge of the municipal administration since shortly after the city council impeached Sunarto on Jan. 16, 2001, and appointed him as the new mayor.

Hari originally rejected the city council's decision, which he considered as being contrary to the law, saying the council had no authority to dismiss the lawfully appointed mayor.

Based on Government Regulation No. 108/2000, the minister said that the councillors should have proposed to the central government the names they considered suitable for replacing Sunarto if the latter had been found incapable of carrying out his day-to-day duties.

The council ignored the minister's advice, saying that its decision on Sunarto was final.

Imam Utomo also handed over the legislature's report on Sunarto's dismissal to the minister as required by law.

Ryaas Rasyid, the former state minister of autonomy affairs and designer of the regional autonomy law enacted in 1999, as well as many other experts, were unanimous in agreeing that the city legislature had the authority to remove the mayor if the latter had been found guilty of violating his oath of office or being incapable, either physically or mentally, of performing his day-to-day duties.

The city legislature sacked Sunarto, who was absent from office at a time when the city faced numerous major problems, including a build-up of garbage in the East Java provincial capital between October 2001 and Jan. 16, 2002.

Sunarto was absent from office for more than four months while receiving intensive medical treatment at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He has now gone back to Melbourne for further medical care after returning to Surabaya two days before the legislative council removed him from office.