Muhayat named city's new spokesman
JAKARTA (JP): City Governor Sutiyoso installed Muhayat as the new spokesman for the city administration on Friday, replacing Kamaludin Santos.
"In an era of press freedom, the city spokesman should supervise press activities in the city, including the reporters assigned to City Hall," Sutiyoso said in a ceremony to inaugurate Muhayat.
He told Muhayat to tell city hall correspondents to always observe city stories objectively, rationally and proportionally.
"City hall correspondents should avoid subjective stories, based on their opinion," said Sutiyoso.
Muhayat was a former official at the city's office of the Information Ministry, while Kamaludin, an army colonel, will return back to Army headquarters.
Sutiyoso expressed his disappointment over recent press reports saying that he was behind the idea of introducing a state of civil emergency.
"I never said that, but you (journalists) wrote that I engineered the idea of applying a state of civil emergency in Jakarta," he said after the ceremony.
The idea of a state of civil emergency was introduced immediately after dozens of ulemas (Muslim clerics) and Betawi (native Jakartan) leaders met with Sutiyoso on Tuesday.
The group demanded that Sutiyoso declare a state of emergency if the situation could not be controlled, amid fear of rallies by supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
Beside Muhayat, Sutiyoso also installed eight new city officials on Friday, including Hari Sandjoyo as president of the city-owned contractor PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya and Dameria Saragih as chief of the city's economic supervisory.
Muchtar Achmad was installed as chief of the city's treasury office, M. Natsir as chief of the city's financial department and Setiawan Kanani as chief of the city's organization department.
Sumaryono was installed as chairman of the city-owned foundation Yayasan Pulomas, Surya Darma Basri as chief of the office of National Monument (Monas) park and Sukma Nelly as chief of the city's legal department. (jun)