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.