Rusli brings governorship election victory back home

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nineteen years ago, on Sept. 2, 1985, Ismail Suko was elected as the governor of Riau after he defeated rival candidate Imam Munandar in the gubernatorial election. Imam was the incumbent governor of Riau at that time.

But, the victory, which Ismail earned after a tense ballot in the Riau legislative council, was short-lived.

The New Order government, which had backed Imam for a second term, rejected the election outcome and stepped up the pressure on Ismail, who was the secretary of the Riau legislative council at the time, to resign the governorship.

Ismail finally resigned, paving the way for Imam to take the helm of Riau administration from 1985 to 1990.

"At the time, I got 19 votes, while Imam garnered 17 votes. I should have been the Riau governor," Ismail recounted.

Ismail was sorely disappointed that he was barred from becoming the governor of Riau, but, as they say, he who laughs last laughs longest.

On Friday last week, after 19 years, Ismail had the pleasure of seeing one of his kin avenging the injustice that had been meted out to him.

Revenge came in the form of Rusli Zainal, Ismail's son-in-law, who was sworn in as Riau governor last week.

Rusli, the husband of Ismail's daughter Septina Primawati, was elected as Riau governor for the 2003 to 2008 period.

Rusli was elected on Oct. 22 this year, after he secured 34 out of 55 votes in the Riau legislative council, defeating the incumbent governor, Saleh Djasit.

Rusli's victory was reminiscent of the success of his father- in-law back in 1985, when Ismail also defeated the incumbent governor.

The only difference was that Rusli has been allowed to take the helm of the Riau administration, while his father-in-law had to accept the reality that his dream of becoming governor was not going to be accepted by the New Order administration.

But, Rusli and Ismail both faced strong efforts to foil their shots at the governorship.

In his day, Ismail was terrorized into surrendering his victory to Imam, the incumbent governor. Nineteen years later, Rusli also had his fair share of problems. Rusli's enemies not only tried to thwart him during the gubernatorial election, but they also tried later to destroy the fruits of his victory.

During the election, Rusli's adversaries spread gossip that Rusli had had an affair with popular singer Iyet Bustami. They also spread rumors that Rusli had been involved in corruption while serving as the regent of Indragiri Hilir.

He survived the rumors, and went on to win the gubernatorial election.

Another rumor emerged after he won the election.

It was said that the election had been tainted by money politics, and, therefore, the President should put the governor's inauguration on hold until the investigation into the allegation had been completed.

But, all the efforts to foil his inauguration have failed.

Rusli and his running mate Wan Abubakar were finally sworn in by Hari Sabarno, the minister of home affairs, on Nov. 21 as the governor and deputy governor of Riau.

Hari pointed out that Rusli had been legally installed as the Riau governor and no one should question again the outcome of the gubernatorial election. "He has been elected democratically," Hari told those in attendance at the swearing-in, as quoted by Antara.

Rusli was born on Dec. 3, 1957. His father, Zainal, was a farmer in Mandah district in the Riau regency of Indra Hilir.

A graduate of the School of Economics of Riau University, Rusli was offered a job in the Riau provincial administration's Development Planning Section.

But, according to his wife Septina, he refused the offer, preferring to start his own business.

In the vision and mission statement he delivered during the Riau gubernatorial election, Rusli pledged to improve the quality of human resources in Riau, a resource-rich province with a population of 5.5 million.