More councillors reject Sutiyoso

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI Perjuangan) city chapter Tarmidi Suhardjo said on Monday that there are councillors from the party committed to rejecting City Governor Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

However, Tarmidi admitted that the 12 councillors, which includes himself, was not enough to form the majority required to reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech, which would thwart his bid to run in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.

"But the battle is not over yet. We will continue to find more 'followers'," Tarmidi, who is also the City Council's deputy chairman, told reporters at the City Council building.

He expected that each of the 12 councillors could gain one councillor, so the number of councillors rejecting Sutiyoso's speech could reach 24 out of the party's total of 30 councillors.

Besides Tarmidi, the eight councillors who will reject Sutiyoso are Ugiek Soegihardjo, Tarmidi Edy Suwarno, Sumiyati Sukarno, Dadang Hamdani, Ajarta Sebayang, Stefanus Surahmat, Gatot Setiabudi and Sofyan Sauri.

Three more councillors who have since followed suit are Bimo Hastoro, Koswadi and Mustaman.

On Wednesday, councillors are scheduled to present their verdict on Sutiyoso's accountability speech.

Tarmidi called on other councillors to use their "consciousness" and listen to the party's supporters who overwhelmingly reject Sutiyoso.

"If they listen to their hearts, they will reject Sutiyoso. They should choose party members, not someone else," he said.

He added that he would not be responsible for the possible outburst of anger by the party's grassroots supporters if the remaining 18 councillors proceed to nominate Sutiyoso.

The meeting of the party's chapters earlier nominated 11 party members as gubernatorial candidates, excluding Sutiyoso.

However, the party's central board decided to nominate Sutiyoso, who was former Jakarta military commander, for security reasons.

Sutiyoso is set to be nominated by the 18 PDI Perjuangan councillors, nine councillors from the Indonesian Military (TNI)/Police faction, eight councillors from Golkar Party, six councillors from the United Development Party and four votes from several small parties.