KPUD candidates to be named soon
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The five-member team selecting the candidates for the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) plans to announce the names of the 10 commission candidates next Thursday.
Team chairman Syamsul Maarif said the team had interviewed 42 candidates who have passed the written and psychological tests.
"Hopefully the 10 candidates will be announced on May 8 before their names are submitted to the national General Elections Commission (KPU)," he said after meeting with Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo.
He said the team had given the public the opportunity to comment on the candidates.
However, it is doubtful that many residents were aware the process was taking place, considering that the list of the 42 KPUD candidates was published in the little known Harian Terbit evening daily on April 22.
Syamsul said the decision to publish the list in that newspaper was made by the KPUD Secretariat, which was established by the city administration.
He also said that his team had yet to receive any letters of objection to any of the candidates from the public.
"All we have received are expressions of support for certain candidates," Syamsul said.
Among the 42 candidates are Jakarta Residents Forum chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan, Jakarta Legal Aid Institute activist Tubagus Haryokarbyanto and two activists from the Jakarta Research Center, Ganda Hutabarat and Muhammad Taufik.
Tigor and Tubagus are strong critics of the city administration, while Ganda and Taufik supported Governor Sutiyoso during the gubernatorial election last September.
None of the other candidates are widely known by the public.
Syamsul said his team would have the final say on the 10 candidates for KPUD membership. Their names will then be submitted to the KPU, which will select five people to serve five-year terms on the Jakarta KPUD.
These five KPUD members will then select members of KPUDs for the five mayoralties and one regency in the city. Each KPUD in the mayoralties and regency will also have five members.
When the registration for KPUD membership in the mayoralties and regency was opened, about 500 people took forms but only 192 returned them.
Thirty people have registered to become KPUD members for Central Jakarta, 45 for West Jakarta, 79 for North Jakarta, 72 for East Jakarta, 34 for South Jakarta and 23 for the Thousand Islands regency.