Muhayat named city's new spokesman

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)