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.