Kepulauan Seribu regent nominated

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Governor Sutiyoso nominated on Friday the second candidate to hold the post as the first regent of Kepulauan Seribu (the Thousand Islands), after the first candidate was rejected by the City Council.

Sutiyoso nominated East Jakarta secretary Dadang Kafrawi as a replacement for the other candidate, head of the city fisheries agency, M. Rahardjo, who was considered incompetent by the city council.

"Yes, we only proposed one candidate. We are awaiting the council's approval," Sutiyoso told reporters after conducting Friday prayers at City Hall.

Before Kafrawi became the East Jakarta secretary, he had held the post of district head of the Thousand Islands.

Sutiyoso hoped the regency could be officially inaugurated soon after the council had approved the city's new candidate as regent.

According to Law no. 34/1999 on city administration, the appointment of a mayor and of a regent should be approved by the council leadership.

Councillor Binsar Tambunan, however, did not seem to be enthusiastic about the new candidate for regent proposed by the governor.

He said that the council actually hoped that the administration would nominate a candidate who had experience in tourism.

"Since the Thousand Islands will be developed as a marine tourism area, the regent should have a tourism background. The candidate could have been selected from the city's tourism agency," Binsar of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said.

Experience in administrative affairs alone was not enough, he said.

The inauguration of the Thousand Islands as a regency was delayed as the council did not approve the candidate for the post of regent.

Last month, the council approved, by means of a bylaw that divides the Thousand Islands district into two, North Thousand Islands and South Thousand Islands districts.

According to a source at City Hall, Penjaringan district deputy head Usmayadi would be appointed as head of North Thousand Islands district, while the Thousand Islands district deputy head Anwar would be appointed as head of South Thousand Islands district.

The fate of the current Thousand Islands district chief, Unu Maknun, is not clear, the source said.