KPUD candidates to be named soon

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.