Jefri's clean government stops fat cats purring

Jefri's clean government stops fat cats purring

Haidir Anwar , The Jakarta Post, Kampar, Riau

Jefri Noer had for the past two years been known only among
timber entrepreneurs.

But lately, his name has become better known after he was
elected by the local legislative council as the new regent of
Kampar, a district dubbed Riau's "Veranda of Mecca".

Jefri became well-known among the people of Kampar and
journalists following the poor relations that developed between
his administration and the legislative council.

This happened after he started to apply the so-called Qalbu
(heart) management system, a term made famous by noted Muslim
preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, to the running of his
administration.

All paradigms inherited from the New Order regime were
scrapped gradually, a move that caused consternation in many
circles -- including contractors, legislative members and senior
officials.

To promote modesty in his administration, Jefri obliged all
local senior officials, including himself, to use Kijang minivans
as their official vehicles.

In the past, his predecessor and other senior officials used
to ride around in Toyota Land Cruisers and other luxury cars as
their official vehicles.

Moreover, local senior officials are banned from using their
official cars except for work purposes.

Jefri appeared to be committed to fighting corruption in
Kampar. Recently, he distributed replicas of small coffins
containing mock corpses to all senior local officials. The
replicas were aimed at reminding them of death so as to prevent
them from becoming involved in graft.

His move to create a sense and atmosphere of modesty appeared
to be cramping the style of many senior officials and prominent
businesspeople, as he did not hesitate to directly monitor the
tender process for government projects.

If he thinks that a contractor is making too much profit, he
will not hesitate to cancel the project. Likewise, if he finds
indications of irregularities in the carrying out of projects,
the regent will not hesitate to bring those involved to court.

A number of Kampar councillors were upset at having their
activities disrupted by Jefri's new broom and claimed that he was
only pretending to be clean.

Their resentment may well have been caused by the regent's
refusal to allow councillors to become involved in local
government projects.

Jefri would cancel the tender process if he found that
companies were being manipulated by legislative council members.

He issued a special directive requiring the monthly salaries
of local government agency heads to be not more than Rp 4 million
(US$470) each.

Though this policy sparked anger among his officials, it drew
support from the public at large. Jefri's other reformist
policies have also caused resentment among councillors and
businesspeople.

As a result, local councillors have plotted to censure and
dismiss Jefri on charges of using a fake diploma. For that
purpose, the Kampar legislative council sent a letter asking
Minister of Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno to put pressure on
the regent.

The council members and Jefri's other critics have set up a
committee to push for the election of a new regent. However, the
efforts to bring Jefri down have so far been fruitless.

Jefri admitted that what he was doing had sparked protests
from various circles, who accused him of only pretending to be
clean.

He has often said he is not a hypocrite. He has candidly
admitted that he was once a disreputable timber entrepreneur and
contractor.

"I lobbied everywhere I could to obtain government contracts.
But that is all in the past now," Jefri said.

Every human being had to change for the better. That was why
he was trying to run the Kampar administration a little bit
cleaner than was the case before.

"I was indeed a disreputable timber businessman and a
contractor. But, can't I be give the opportunity now to get rid
of all the bad habits we have inherited from past
administrations?" he asked.