Mayor tells wives to mind own business

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.