Megawati urged to abandon Sutiyoso

Megawati urged to abandon Sutiyoso

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An activist has strongly urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri
to withdraw her support from the nomination of incumbent Governor
Sutiyoso for another term in office to win back her supporters at
the grassroots level.

"This is the right moment for Megawati to withdraw her
support. That way she can win back her followers," the chairman
of the Jakarta Residents Forum (FAKTA), Azas Tigor Nainggolan,
said on Saturday.

"Continuing to support Sutiyoso would only jeopardize her
party's chances in the 2004 general election," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Tigor said that Megawati needed Sutiyoso's help to keep her
position in power as he had the support of many business links
and capital owners.

Many of Megawati's followers have protested her support of
Sutiyoso's nomination, not only because of his poor performance
as a governor, but especially since he is a former military
commander who was named as one of the suspects in the July 27,
1996 tragedy. Five people were killed, hundreds were injured and
several went missing, while 124 of Megawati's supporters were
arrested during the attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian
Democratic Party.

The City Council's election committee will put forward the
names of seven candidates for Megawati's approval some time this
week before the election, which is scheduled for Sept. 11.

Tigor questioned the council's obligations to consult the
President on the candidates despite the implementation of
regional autonomy.

"The problem arose because there has been intervention from
the central government. It will be more difficult for Jakarta to
develop further because we all know that Sutiyoso failed in his
first tenure."

Political observer Andi Alfian Mallarangeng said the
consultation was needed concerning the governor's status as a
representative of the central government.

"The consultation will only focus on administrative affairs."

He said Megawati could drop Sutiyoso's name from the
candidate's list because he was a suspect in the July 27
incident.

He said she had the authority to eliminate any candidates if
they were involved or even suspected to have been involved in any
acts of treason or serious legal violations.

The gubernatorial election will have only one round as long as
a candidate gets a single majority vote of 50 percent plus one.
Otherwise, there will be stages to reduce the number of
candidates to five and two respectively.