Political tension in S. Kalimantan persists

Yuliansyah, The Jakarta Post, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan

Political tension in South Kalimantan has escalated, with the provincial legislative council refusing to accept the central government's annulment of the dismissal last August of Governor Sjachriel Darham and his deputy Hussein.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno recently issued a decree to annul the dismissal of the governor and deputy governor, and advised the legislative body that did not have the authority to dismiss the governor and his deputy because they had been sworn in by the President.

The provincial legislative council removed the governor in a plenary session last year because the governor was considered unable to cooperate with it in many fields.

The Golkar Party faction chairman in the legislative council, Addy Chairuddin, said the legislative council rejected the central government's intervention, and that 39 of the 45 councillors had agreed to submit an official request to the Supreme Court to review the ministerial decree, and to sue the home minister at the state administrative court.

"The governor and his deputy were not capable of leading this province," Addy said, adding that irregularities had also occurred during their term.

He also said that in line with Government Regulation No. 108/2002 on accountability, only President Megawati Soekarnoputri had the right to issue a decree, not the home minister.

"Even if the decree was issued by the ministry, it should have been done so with the President's consent," he said.

Addy reiterated that the ouster of the governor was based not on the interests of the provincial legislative council, but according to the local people's political aspirations.

The deputy chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Bachrudin Syarkawi, said he had yet to send the provincial legislative council's decision on the governor's dismissal to PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"However, the PDI Perjuangan faction at the provincial legislative council fully supports the governor's dismissal," he said, adding that he intended to go to Jakarta to convey the provincial legislature's decision to Megawati and seek direction on what the party should do in line with the prolonged tension.

Many political analysts have regretted the dissatisfying implementation of regional autonomy, saying that according to the law, the legislative council could have proposed that the President dismiss the governor after it rejected his annual progress report.