Military says no to civilian governor

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Councillors close to the Indonesian Military (TNI) rejected on Tuesday a pledge from the largest faction on the City Council, the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), that the next Jakarta governor would be a civilian.

Councillor Posman Siahaan from the Unity and Justice Party refused to recognize a dichotomy between civilians and the military, saying everyone had an equal right to be nominated as a candidate in the next gubernatorial election in October.

"As long as a candidate is capable and meets the requirements stated in the regulations, we should not look at their backgrounds, whether they are civilians or military men," Posman, whose party is chaired by former TNI chief Gen. (ret) Edi Sudrajat, asserted.

He said his party, which has only one seat on the City Council, would nominate one candidate from the military and three civilian candidates.

He refused to give the names of the candidates.

Separately, City Council speaker Maj. Gen. Edy Waluyo from the TNI/Police faction, was cautious in commenting on the matter, saying that the public should be allowed to evaluate the candidates.

"Let the public judge the candidates. But it's the PDI Perjuangan's right to nominate their own candidate," Edy told reporters on Tuesday.

He revealed that TNI headquarters had not yet announced its candidates for the next gubernatorial election.

Asked about his readiness to be nominated for election as governor, Edy replied, "I haven't thought about it, yet."

The TNI/Police faction has nine seats on the council.

On Monday, the PDI Perjuangan's city chapter chairman, Tarmidi Suhardjo, announced that his party would reject candidates from the military or retired military personnel.

"It's no longer appropriate for the city to be led by a military man," Tarmidi, who is also a deputy speaker of the council, said.

He guaranteed that the party, which is chaired by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, would nominate a civilian as its candidate for the governorship.

Tarmidi's statement would appear to put an end to the chances of Edy Waluyo, and also the current Jakarta governor, Sutiyoso, both of whom are from the military, of running for the city's top job.

The PDI Perjuangan, which has 30 seats on the council, earlier announced that it proposed to nominate the party's deputy chairman Roy B.B. Janis as its candidate for the next governor.

However, according to the regulations governing gubernatorial elections, military personnel and civil servants may be nominated provided they have the permission of their superiors.

Besides Roy, current City Secretary Fauzi Bowo, also a civilian, has been proposed to be nominated as a gubernatorial candidate by the Native Jakartans' Association (Bamus Betawi).