Mayor tells wives to mind own business

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang

As part of his efforts to establish good governance, Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim has strongly admonished the wives of his subordinates not to interfere in their husbands' work, saying that such interference could adversely affect the credibility of the administration.

"You are all the wives of senior officials here, including my own wife. You must never try to interfere with your husbands' work. Let your husbands do their best to ensure the progress of this municipality," he said.

He was speaking while officiating at the inauguration ceremony for the municipality's newly elected secretary, Harry Mulya Zain.

According to Wahidin, he had encountered many cases where the wives of his subordinates played major roles in influencing their husbands to become involved in corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The municipality, formerly a satellite town for Jakarta, has been part of Banten province since 2000 in line with local autonomy.

The growing town is home to hundreds of industrial firms and factories, many of which are joint or foreign investment ventures.

Also present during the ceremony were representatives of the Banten provincial administration, councillors, the heads of municipality agencies and bureaus, and their wives.

The new secretary was formerly the head of the education agency. He was elected last week, outpolling Affandi Permana, the administration's assistant director for development, and Abdul Rochim, the chief of the municipality's welfare and finance bureau.