Rudolf accepted as acting governor

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

After a lengthy debate, major parties in the North Sumatra provincial council on Monday finally endorsed the appointment of Rudolf Pardede as acting Governor of the province.

The decision by six parties in the provincial council was declared final and binding despite strong objections from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Star Reform Party (PBR). Frustrated with Rudolf's appointment, members of the two parties walked out during the plenary session that debated the appointment of the acting governor.

Emerging from the meeting, a top councillor with PBR Raden Syafi'i said that he was disappointed with the decision, which was in line with a decree issued by the Minister of Home Affairs that appointed Rudolf as acting governor.

Rudolf should have not been appointed because the decree was administratively flawed, said Raden, the chairman of PBR faction in the North Sumatra provincial council. He said the decree was flawed as it was issued without with consent of the provincial council.

Meanwhile, a leading politician from PKS, Muhammad Nuh, said the appointment was legally questionable as Rudolf was still mired in a case concerning his school diploma. Rudolf is being probed by police because during the gubernatorial election of 2003 he submitted a letter stating that he had completed senior high school in Sukabumi, West Java and did not have a high school diploma. As he only filed a letter instead of a school diploma, his candidacy has been questioned by the certain people and police were trying to determine if Rudolf was in fact once a student at the school.

According to Nuh, if Rudolf made a false statement in the letter, then he should be prosecuted and his appointment annulled.

Nuh suspected that the statements in the letter were untrue as Rudolf never provided evidence to support his assertions.

Separately, Hasbullah Hadi, a leading councillor from the Democrat Party supporting Rudolf said the decision by the Minister of Home Affairs was correct as he was vested with rights to appoint an acting Governor.