Kepulauan Seribu regent nominated

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.