Tue, 08 Oct 2002

Jakarta's 'new' leaders: Sutiyoso, Fauzi Bowo

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After days of rallies for and against them, Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo were finally inaugurated as City Governor and Deputy Governor respectively in a ceremony at the City Council building on Monday.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta Military Commander, was reelected for his second five-year term with votes mainly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Golkar Party.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of PDI Perjuangan, the largest faction in the council, and Vice President Hamzah Haz, chairman of the third largest faction, had earlier instructed their members to vote for Sutiyoso.

Many viewed Megawati's support as controversial and against the party's grassroots supporters as Sutiyoso remains a suspect for his alleged involvement in a bloody attack on Megawati's party headquarters in 1996.

Nonetheless, he was reelected despite massive public opposition before and after the election. Some effort has also made to annul the election, which allegedly was steeped in vote- buying.

Sutiyoso was born in Semarang, Central Java on Dec. 6, 1944. He graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy in 1968 and spent most of his military career in the army's special forces (Kopassus).

He was also trained at Brigade V Airborne in England in 1987, the Joint Service Staff College in Canberra, Australia in 1989 and the 82nd Airborne division at Fort Bragg in the United States in 1991.

Sutiyoso, called Bang Yos by his supporters, graduated from the Institute of Military Law in 1997. He was also given an honorary doctorate degree in political science from Pusan University in South Korea last year.

Married to Setyorini, the couple have two daughters -- Yessi Riana Dilliyanti, 27 and Renny Yosnita Ariyanti, 22. His first term as governor began on Oct. 6, 1997, just 15 months after the killings at Megawati's office.

Meanwhile, Fauzi Bowo, popularly known as "Bang Foke" was the former City Secretary before he was elected as Deputy Governor on Monday.

"Abang" or "Bang" is a friendly term for brother in the Betawi (long time Jakartan) dialect.

Bang Foke was born in Jakarta on April 10, 1948 and attended junior and senior high school at Kolese Kanisius in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Born into a wealthy Betawi family, Fauzi entered the University of Indonesia in 1966, and after graduating he continued his studies in architecture at the Technical University in Brunsweig, Germany.

Fauzi, who was reported by the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) as the richest official in the administration with official assets worth Rp 17 billion (US$1.9 million), secured a doctorate in architecture from Kaiserslautern University, also in Germany.

Married to Sri Hartati, the daughter of the late Soedjono Hoemardani, a close aide of former President Soeharto, he has three children. He began his career in the administration as the head of the Gubernatorial Protocol Office in 1977.

Fauzi, who was also the former treasurer of Golkar Party's city chapter, led the Jakarta Tourism Agency in 1993 before being installed as the City Secretary in 1998.

Fauzi rarely comments to the press, unlike Sutiyoso, who is usually willing to answer questions from journalists.