Mega urged to annual election of Sutiyoso, Fauzi Bowo
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) filed on Wednesday a legal notice against President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decree authorizing the inauguration of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and Vice Governor Fauzi Bowo.
The NGOs, calling themselves the Jakarta Residents Independent Committee (KIWAK), urged the President to revoke the decree.
They said that by issuing the decree Megawati violated Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.
"If the President does not revoke Decree No. 190/M/2002 on the officiation and inauguration of Sutiyoso and Fauzi Bowo within a month, we will file a lawsuit with the State Administrative Court," Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said after submitting the legal notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Among the 14 NGOs grouped in KIWAK are LBH, the Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), the Center for Advocacy and Human Rights (Paham), the July 27 1996 Youth Movement, the Democratic People's Party (PRD) and the Anti-Corruption People's Movement (Gerak).
Sutiyoso and Fauzi were inaugurated on Monday to begin serving five-year terms.
According to Tubagus, in issuing the decree the President ignored public protest over various controversies in the election process, including allegations of vote buying and a lack of transparency. There was also the matter of the unexplained markings some councillors put on their ballots and the violent protests on election day.
Fakta chairman Asas Tigor Nainggolan said the markings on the ballots not only sparked allegations of vote buying, but also violated the principles of elections as stated in the law on regional autonomy.
Article 40, Paragraph 1, of the law states that the election of the head and vice head of a region should be direct, free, secret, honest and fair.
"How could this election process have been free and secret if the legislators were asked to made signs on their ballot papers," Asas said.
A councillor from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Audy Tambunan, said earlier that each councillor in the party had included a code when writing the names of Sutiyoso and Fauzi on their ballots.
Megawati, in her capacity as the party's chairwoman, ordered all of the party's councillors to vote for Sutiyoso. The order came despite the fact that Sutiyoso, who was Jakarta Military commander at the time, is a suspect in the July 27, 1996, attack on the Central Jakarta headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party, which was led by Megawati.