Senior official lauds regional councils' independence
Senior official lauds regional councils' independence
JAKARTA (JP): A senior government official lauded yesterday
the independence of regional legislative councils saying they had
the right to elect their own council speakers without pressure
from a political party's central office.
Director-general of sociopolitical affairs at the Ministry of
Home Affairs, Sutoyo N.K., said yesterday that provincial
legislative councils were free to select their own leaders.
Sutoyo's statement comes in the wake of a shocking defeat of a
Golkar candidate as speaker of the Irian Jaya Legislative
Council, despite the faction holding a majority of seats.
"We (people) have to respect the result of provincial council
leadership elections," he told reporters at his office.
Sutoyo maintained that there should be no more argument about
council elections after results were announced. "The Irian Jaya
council speaker election met with all procedures and
regulations," he said.
Nevertheless, he did not deny there was an agreement within
Golkar that, as the winning faction, their legislators would hold
council speaker positions.
The eastern Indonesian province was marred by a council
leadership dispute last week, when the installation ceremony of
Col. Robert Sitorus as chief of the Irian Jaya Legislative
Council was delayed due to a "boycott" by Golkar legislators.
Golkar's 32 elected councilors in Irian Jaya were instructed
by the central board to boycott the installation ceremony after
Sitorus, a legislator from the Armed Forces (ABRI), was elected
as council speaker.
Sitorus, secretly receiving support from many Golkar council
members, won the speaker position 27-9, pushing aside the Golkar
candidate and preelection favorite T.N. Kaiway.
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. has reportedly
approved the election result.
The dispute was apparently settled Monday morning when all
local Golkar legislative council members attended Sitorus'
postponed installation ceremony and recognized him as the council
speaker.
Sutoyo expected the dispute would probably not affect the
House of Representatives' (DPR) electoral process for electing
its speaker.
"The Irian Jaya leadership dispute was a local affair. You
cannot generalize the problem," he said.
Sutoyo echoed Golkar secretary-general Ary Mardjono's opinion
that the leadership dispute in the Irian Jaya Legislative Council
should not set a precedent on a national level.
Several political observers have predicted the same row
between Golkar and ABRI could occur at a national level during
the election of the House speaker in October.
Seeds of dispute sprouted last month when outgoing legislators
suggested that Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, a future legislator from
the Armed Forces, join the race as a candidate for House speaker.
The controversy immediately ended when several top government
officials signaled that Harmoko was the man for the post.
But Harmoko's road to the post will not be easy, because
United Development Party chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum has
declared his readiness to become House speaker.
The House speaker position is traditionally held by the leader
of the majority faction. (imn)