Surabaya legislature leadership dismissed
Surabaya legislature leadership dismissed
Resi Fadjar Himawanti, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
The Surabaya legislative council replaced on Monday its chairman and three deputy chairmen because of their alleged involvement in a Rp 22.5 billion corruption scandal.
The council agreed to appoint Herman Rifai of the Coalition faction and Pudji Astuti of the Indonesian Military/National Police faction as acting cochairs until new leadership is elected on April 4.
"We fully accept the plenary session's decision," Herman said after presiding over the special plenary session.
Dismissed by the council were chairman M. Basuki of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and his deputies Ali Burhan of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Pudji Astuti and Herman Rifai.
The dismissals were signed by the leaders of the four factions in the council following a five-hour plenary session, which was attended by 41 of 45 councillors.
The four factions in the council agreed that the legislative council needed new leadership to improve its effectiveness.
Basuki has been detained by the prosecutor's office for his alleged involvement in the corruption case.
"Since Basuki's arrest earlier this year, there has been a power vacuum because the other leaders do not want to take responsibility for leading the council and we cannot endorse many bylaws," PDI Perjuangan faction spokesman Armudji said.
The four dismissed councillors are alleged to have been involved in the embezzlement of Rp 22.5 billion from the city budget. Only Rp 1.7 billion of the embezzled funds has been recovered by prosecutors.
Only Basuki and Burhan have been detained by the Surabaya Prosecutor's Office.
Investigators have alleged that the two detained suspects issued several decrees approving the disbursement of state funds for the benefit of council members between 2000 and 2002.
Basuki and Burhan have been charged with violating Law No. 31/1999 and Law No. 20/2001 on corruption. If found guilty they could face 20 years in prison.
Coalition faction spokesman Sofyan Hadi acknowledged that the performance of the legislative council had suffered in the absence of its chairman.
"And there has been no special appointment to replace Basuki," he said.
Prior to the plenary session, a steering committee held several meetings to select a new chairman but failed to reach an agreement.
An election will be held on April 4 to select new council leadership.
Meanwhile, PKB faction spokesman Arifin Hamid said there was nothing unusual about periodically evaluating the legislative council's leadership.
However, he regretted that only two of the council leaders had so far been arrested, while the others remained free.
"It is ironic that those who follow legal procedure are detained, but those who pretend not to know about the corruption case remain free," he said.
He also urged the council to select new leaders that would be able to work together as a team.
The military/police faction said the dismissal of four council leaders reflected the aspirations of the people.
Meanwhile, Basuki has joined the Bung Karno Nationalist Party (PNBK), chaired by film director Eros Djarot, one of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's staunchest opponents. He made the switch after being dismissed from PDI Perjuangan, which is chaired by Megawati.