Suspension proposal illegal, Governor says

Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda

East Kalimantan Governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah has demanded that the provincial council revoke its decision to file a motion requesting his suspension for alleged graft with the President.

Through his lawyer Arteria Dahlan the governor has also requested that the council's ethics committee determine whether the council's decision breached its code of ethics.

The lawyer said letters would be sent to the relevant parties and he hoped the matter would be sorted out immediately. "Needless to say, we demand the governor's good name be reinstated," said Dahlan.

He said, besides sending letters to the councillors, the governor would also ask President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and home affairs minister M. Ma'ruf to ignore the suspension request as it violated the law.

The law on regional administration states that a governor can only be suspended if the council's plenary meeting is attended by over three quarters of the councillors.

However, the plenary meeting on Monday was only attended by 33 councillors, or less than three quarters of the East Kalimantan councillors. "The proposal was unlawful as was the decision. The governor will not step down but will work as usual," said Dahlan.

Dahlan said the motion to unseat the governor was premature as the governor had not been named a suspect, let alone been found guilty of embezzlement.

The case centers on the governor's decision to exempt a large plantation company from paying regreening fees to the government. It was later found the company had failed to regreen several of its designated operational areas.

With the surfacing of the case ammunition was provided for the governor's rivals to criticize him for exempting the company from paying regreening fees.

The public criticism brought about the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) questioning of the governor in late October, which in turn led to rallies demanding the governor's resignation.

The series of protests prompted the East Kalimantan council to file the motion for the governor's suspension.

The proposal was supported by four of the six factions in the council, including the Golkar faction, which had earlier supported Suwarna, including in the 2003 election for governor.

The council had also decided to dismiss its secretary Syaiful Teteng. But the senior government official fought back.

He argued his post was a career post and not a political post like the governor's, so the councillors had no right to dismiss him. He said the only party that could fire him was the government and not the councillors.

Meanwhile, conditions in the East Kalimantan capital of returned to normal on Tuesday after noisy street protests over the past few days. However, the governor's office and the council building were guarded by police on Tuesday.