'Regional autonomy is half-hearted'

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the current era of regional autonomy, the President could still intervene in the gubernatorial election process as has happened in the past, councillors and observers said on Monday.

The president's "intervention" was cited in the Jakarta gubernatorial election regulations and governmental regulation (PP) No. 151/2000 on the procedure for gubernatorial elections.

Both regulations stated that the governor candidates should be "discussed first" with the President before the candidates were admitted to the election. During the New Order era, all governors were subject to president Soeharto's approval.

Jakarta councillor Posman Siahaan of the Justice and Unity Party said the council could not object to the intervention as it was contained in the PP, which itself was based on Law 9/1999 on Regional Autonomy.

"It's half-hearted autonomy. The government wants to give authority to the governor, but in the other hand, still retains part of the authority," said Posman of council Commission A for legal and administrative affairs.

He suggested the House of Representatives and government revise the Law and the PP to avoid presidential intervention in the gubernatorial election.

The intervention debate has been triggered by the support of chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri for the reelection of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Megawati's support was controversial as it defied the aspirations of her party's Jakarta chapter, which nominated 11 candidates for governor, and did not include Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta military commander.

Councillor Abdul Azis Matnur from the Justice Party said the President's intervention should only be based on the formal documentation submitted by the candidates.

"The President cannot reject candidates based on political considerations, except if they have failed to fulfill administrative requirements," said Azis, who is also a member of Commission A, in charge of formulating the gubernatorial election regulations.

He said the word "consultation" at Article 19 of the regulations simply meant notification of the President about the gubernatorial election.

Separately, chairman of Jakarta Government Watch Amir Hamzah said the President was still able to reject certain candidates although it had to be based on administrative considerations.

"The President might discover information about a certain candidate. She could use such information to reject the candidate if the person had not included the data in the curriculum vitae that was required by the regulations," Amir said.

However, political expert Andi A. Malarangeng said that the law and regulation should not be interpreted as meaning that the President could intervene in the gubernatorial process.

"Since the beginning of the reform era, there has not been a candidate rejected by the President," Andi, who, along with other experts, formulated Law No. 9/1999, said on Monday.

He said the legislative body simply notified the President about the candidates as a governor was still considered to be a subordinate of the central government.

He said the President could only reject certain candidates if, for example, they had been found guilty of subversion.

"So, President Megawati could not reject certain governor candidates without good reason," he said.

But, he said, Megawati, in her capacity as PDI Perjuangan chairwoman, ironically nominated Sutiyoso, who was allegedly involved in the bloody attack on the party's headquarters on July 27, 1996.

At least five people were killed after the attack, which was followed by mass rioting in areas around the headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.