'Regional autonomy is half-hearted'

'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.