S. Kalimantan governor reports on performance

Juliansyah, The Jakarta Post, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan

South Kalimantan governor Sjachriel Darham presented on Thursday a progress report on his administration's performance in 2002 to the provincial legislative council.

In a plenary session, at which the provincial legislature chairman was absent, the governor claimed to have achieved some progress in many areas over the last 12 months, so the provincial legislative had no real reasons not to accept it.

He said his administration had generated a higher increase in the province's revenue than the original target.

"The province's revenue reached Rp 542.1 billion, an increase of Rp 4 billion over the targeted Rp 538 billion, while the government's income reached Rp 212 billion, an increase of about 15 percent above the targeted Rp 191.6 billion. The province's income from the fiscal balance of the central government reached Rp 285.5 billion," he said.

He said the government's income rose by almost 80 percent to Rp 212 billion last year, from Rp 130.7 billion in 2001.

"We have also made improvements in the province's expenditures. According to the 2002 budget, the provincial administration allocated Rp 313 billion to cover all routine expenditures in 20 sectors, but we have saved more than Rp 39 billion from this area, while from a total of 146 development projects we have saved Rp 42 billion. All the funds will go to the 2003 budget," said Sjachriel, who received applause from a number of councillors.

The governor challenged the provincial legislative council to audit the progress report if they found any irregularities in the distribution of the budget.

"So, we are optimistic that the provincial legislative council will accept the progress report without comment," he said.

Sjachriel has been involved in a serious rift with the provincial legislative council over the council's decision to dismiss him last August. The governor was impeached in a plenary session, but Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno ruled it out.

According to the regional autonomy law, a provincial legislature has no authority to impeach a governor, who is appointed by the president.

According to Government Regulation No. 108/1999, a provincial legislature could recommend the dismissal of a governor if the governor's progress report is rejected or he is involved in crimes.

Mansyah, a strong opponent of Sjachriel, was unable to attend the plenary session over which he was to preside, because he was in Jakarta attending the meeting of the Association of Indonesia's Provincial Legislative Councils.

The chairman of the Golkar Party faction, Addy Chairuddin, and the chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction, were also absent from the plenary meeting.

Addy said the Golkar Party faction would not join in evaluating the governor's progress report, because the legislature had yet to enforce its decision on the governor's dismissal.

"According to my faction and the council's decision, Sjachriel is no longer governor," he said.

Dahri concurred and lambasted councillors attending the plenary session, saying their actions betrayed the legislature's decision.

Yusri Assaid, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction, called for the establishment of a special committee to evaluate the governor's progress report objectively.

The council was scheduled to announce their acceptance or rejection of the governor's progress report in mid-April.