Gubernatorial nominees must have clean records
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java
A local legislature faction warned the West Java gubernatorial election committee of the legal and administrative difficulties gubernatorial candidate Danny Setiawan and deputy gubernatorial candidate Rudy Harsya Tanaya could be facing, saying the two candidates did not meet the legal requirements.
The coalition faction, which has not nominated any candidates for the gubernatorial election, said the committee should be strict in selecting gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates so as to avoid any difficulties during the election.
Yudi Widiana Adia, the spokesman for the coalition faction, said that West Java should learn from Lampung where a governor- elect Alzier Dianis Thabranie was not sworn in because of his alleged involvement in a number of corruption cases.
Danny, who was nominated by the Golkar Party and United Development Party (PPP) factions is still being investigated over his involvement in a Rp 4.1 billion corruption case at the state- owned agribusiness and mining company PT Bentonite Full Activasi (BFA) in Tasikmalaya. He was also one of a number of councillors who received Rp 250 million each in housing funds from the provincial administration last year.
The prosecution service in Bandung is still investigating Danny in his capacity as a member of the supervisory board of the company. But so far he has yet to be declared a suspect in the case.
According to the 1999 regional autonomy law, gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates must have clean records, never have been sent to jail and be senior high school graduates.
Rudi has failed to hand over a certificate to prove that he was graduate from senior high school. He said his senior high school certificate was lost some time in 1990s. He said he just had a loss report on it from the police.
"The loss report is not enough to prove that Rudy has graduated from senior high school and, so far, no witnesses have come forward to prove it.
"If either of these two candidates wins, his victory could be annulled if he is found guilty of not meeting the legal requirements for governor or deputy governor, as the case may be," he said.
Suyaman, the chairman of the gubernatorial election committee, said there was no need for the committee to screen the two candidates as Danny had never been charged as a suspect in the Bentonite case while Rudy had informed the committee about the loss of his certificate.
"The administrative and legal requirements are important, but even more important is whether the two candidates have the ability to lead the province," he said.
Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate Tayo Tarmadi and his running mate Rudy, who have been nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) factions, presented on Wednesday their vision, mission and development programs in a plenary session of the provincial legislative council which would hold the gubernatorial election on May 15.