New council reps eye chairmanship

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Only a day after being sworn into office, new councillors are vying for the City Council chairmanship. Two names -- Ahmad Heryawan of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Abdul Muthalib Shihab of the Democratic Party are considered the strongest contenders.

PKS and the Democratic Party are the two factions with the most seats on the council with 18 and 16 seats respectively.

"The Democratic Party faction will fight the PKS for the council chairmanship," councillor Ahmad Alaydrus told reporters at City Council on Thursday.

Ahmad said if a councillor from his party were council chairman, it would be easier to make improvements within the council.

Decree No. 162/2004 issued by the home minister on guidelines to set up the internal regulations for City Council stipulates that the council chairman should be elected from four major political parties in the council.

Therefore, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Golkar Party factions have a chance since they have 11 and seven seats respectively.

But some smaller factions also want to enter the race.

"Law No. 22/2003 on the organizational structure of House of Representatives and City Council stipulates that the council chairman must be elected from and by the councillors. So, all factions can propose their own candidates," said councillor Daniel Abdullah Sani of the National Mandate Party faction, which has six seats in the council.

Mohamad Mansur Syahroni of the National Awakening Party faction agreed, saying the election of the council chairman must be in accordance with the law. "Due to the absence of a specific government regulation on the issue, it would be better if we take the existing law as our reference."