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)