Maluku councillors run amok, demand poll confirmation

Maluku councillors run amok, demand poll confirmation

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

At least 19 councillors in Southeast Maluku ran amok in the
office of the Maluku governor in Ambon on Monday, drawing the
attention of locals and office employees.

The commotion occurred after the councillors were stood up by
Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu, who had agreed to discuss
the recent election of Southeast Maluku council leaders with
them.

Isack Saimima, the Maluku provincial secretary's deputy
greeted the party of 25 councillors, whom the 19 were among, when
they arrived at the governor's office in the morning. They were
escorted into the governor's meeting room. Initially, the
councillors had been relaxed but when Isack informed them that
the governor could not attend the meeting as he was out of town,
they began to get angry.

Some councillors banged the wooden desks in the room with
their hands, while others shouted at the provincial
administration officials in attendance. They said the governor
was unfair as he had called for the meeting but failed to show
up. The councillors suspected the governor was trying to buy time
in inaugurating the new council leaders.

Adam Rahayaan, a senior councillor, alleged that the
governor's absence was a ploy to delay endorsing the election
results.
"The governor was to have endorsed the results, but he invited
us to come to his office instead," said Adam, who was elected as
deputy speaker of Southeast Maluku regency along with fellow
councillor Thomas Renyaan in the Dec. 3 election. The council
speakership went to M. Tamher.

The biggest faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P), which has six members, was the only faction
that abstained from the election. But, in the end, they supported
the election outcome.

The dispute began when the council secretariat sent a letter
to the governor a few days after the election to report the
election outcome. Instead of endorsing the results, the governor
replied that the inauguration of the council leaders could only
be held after his endorsement.

The reply from the governor was followed by an invitation for
the councillors to meet with him.

Lukman Matutu, a councillor, said that if the governor did not
respond to the councillors' demand, the councillors would file a
lawsuit with the state administrative court, seeking the
endorsement of the results.