Soetandyo to lead team investigating mayor's case

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, has been named to lead an independent team of inquiry into the controversial dismissal of Surabaya Mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono by local councillors.

East Java Governor Imam Utomo announced on Friday that Soetandyo, a professor of sociology at the state Airlangga University here, was appointed due to his capability, integrity and impartiality. The rights body member will lead a seven-member team.

Imam said he would make public the full lineup of the team after consulting Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, who has asked the governor to mediate the dispute between the mayor and the councillors.

"The structure of the team, who gets what position, has been completed. But I cannot disclose the members to the public until I receive the minister's technical guidelines on how the team works," Imam said at his office.

He said he had no authority to endorse the team lineup because "it deals with a crucial matter which has political implications".

According to the law, the central government, not a governor, holds the authority to appoint and dismiss a mayor or regent.

Once the team lineup is announced, it starts working. Imam expects the team to finish its job in three months, before he presents the report to the minister.

Imam said he would ask the minister to immediately issue the guidelines needed by the independent team.

Like the old team probing the removal of Bambang's predecessor Sunarto Sumoprawiro earlier this year, the new team will comprise experts in political, legal and regional autonomy affairs.

The City Council's vote of no confidence against Sunarto prompted the ailing mayor's dismissal.

Bambang, who was Sunarto's deputy, was named the mayor in June by the councillors who, after one month, lodged a motion to remove him for failing to appear and present a revised accountability budget report for the 2001 fiscal year.

Bambang and council speaker Mohammad Basuki met for the first time since the former's controversial dismissal in a function hosted by private television station SCTV. The two members of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle also appeared in a talk show broadcast live by the TV station later in the day.

Imam hailed the meeting, which he said would pave the way for executive and legislative reconciliation.

"Reconciliation will reinstate cooperation between the two institutions so as to create good team work," Imam said.

But reconciliation remains a long way away, according to Bambang, who said he attended the function on Thursday on behalf of Imam.