Most councillors accept Sutiyoso's accountability

Most councillors accept Sutiyoso's accountability

JAKARTA (JP): With a vote of 45 for and 37 against, the City
Council on Monday accepted the revised annual accountability
speech of Governor Sutiyoso, saying that the latter has shown
significant improvement in his performance over the last 30 days.

The Council reached its decision in a closed vote at the end
of a nine-hour plenary session at City Hall.

After the vote, several councillors told The Jakarta Post that
the 37 councillors, who rejected the revised speech, consisted of
all 27 council members from the PDI Perjuangan faction attending
the meeting, all four members of the Justice Party faction, and
six others, whose identities were not mentioned on the voting
papers.

The council has 85 councillors from 11 factions.

The three absent councillors were all from PDI Perjuangan. Two
of them were sick, while the other one, Santayana Kiemas, a
brother-in-law of Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, was said
to be on a trip to Singapore with Megawati.

Monday's session represents the final opinion of each faction
of the City Council after Sutiyoso's first delivery of the speech
before the council on June 5.

In a session concerning the same matter on Aug. 21, the
councillors stunned the country when 68 of the attending
councillors voted to reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech due
to his perceived failure to provide detailed explanations to the
councillors' questions.

Speaking to journalists after Monday's vote, PDI Perjuangan
faction chairman Audi Tambunan said his faction had decided from
the beginning to reject the governor's speech since they failed
to see improvements in Sutiyoso's administration.

"Our faction completely rejects his speech. There has been no
improvement at all," Audi said.

Meanwhile, Justice Party faction chairman Achmad Heryawan
echoed Audi's opinion, saying that there was still rampant
corruption in the administration, while gambling and prostitution
had not been reduced at all.

"I cannot understand why the other factions have accepted the
speech. Sutiyoso has failed in the running of his
administration," Achmad said.

Sutiyoso, a 56-year-old retired three-star army general, has
been in the position for more than 2.5 years, or half of the
five-year gubernatorial term.

According to Law No.22/1999 on Regional Autonomy, councillors
have the right to evaluate, accept or reject the speech and to
submit the final outcome to the President as a recommendation.

Most of the council's 11 factions which voted to accept the
governor's speech praised the progress made by Sutiyoso in the
past 30 days, particularly his efforts to reduce public order
offenses, improve public services and restructure the management
of city-owned companies.

The pro-Sutiyoso factions also stated that the governor should
be given more time, at least until the next fiscal year, to
fulfil his commitment to improve overall conditions in the
capital.

Sutiyoso, who looked relieved after the outcome of the vote,
pledged that he would continue his efforts in these three areas
and stated that he fully understood those who refused to support
him, saying that it was a warning for him to work harder during
the remainder of his term.

"This is proof that the councillors have regained their trust
in my administration and I will continue all of my programs
because the acceptance of my speech means that I must fulfil all
of my commitments," Sutiyoso said.

"I have to make a list of everything that still needs
improving and I will act on that as soon as possible. My priority
will be to provide sufficient public services for
underprivileged residents," he added.

Commenting on the fact that many Jakartans still reject him,
Sutiyoso simply said that it's something normal.

"Out of almost 10 million Jakartans, some might be unable to
see the improvements I'm trying to make," he said.

The plenary session was colored by anti-Sutiyoso protesters,
including hundreds of becak (pedicab) drivers, staging rallies in
front of City Hall.

The presence of the protesters, who had thronged the site
since early morning, forced traffic police to temporarily close
Jl. Kebon Sirih in front of City Hall for almost two hours.

By noon, police estimated that the number of protesters had
already reached some 2,000 people from different groups,
including the Jakarta Partners' Communication Forum (Fokorja),
the Jakarta Residents' Forum (FAKTA), the Communication Forum of
the 124 Victims of the July 27, 1996 Tragedy (FKK 124-27
Juli'96).

They all had one object: demanding that councillors reject
Sutiyoso's speech. (dja)