Sutiyoso speech likely to be rejected
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso's accountability statement faces possible rejection by the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, the Justice Party (PK) faction, the United Development Party (PPP) faction and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction at the city council.
The four factions make up a total of 60 votes, a majority of the council's 85 seats, with PDI-P holding 30 seats, PAN and the PPP holding 13 seats each and the PK, four seats.
If the council rejects Sutiyoso's accountability statement, the governor would be given an opportunity to improve his performance in the next 100 days. If, by the end of this period, his administration's performance has not improved to the satisfaction of councillors, they could bring a motion of no confidence against him.
PAN faction chairman Agus Darmawan said on Thursday that the main reason for the likely rejection was Sutiyoso's forced eviction of around 11,500 families in the city.
He also mentioned the governor's failure in implementing Bylaw No. 2/2002 on private markets, in particular on developers' obligation to allocate 20 percent of space to small and medium enterprises, and the failure of the City Audit Agency (Bawasda) in monitoring the performance of various city agencies.
PPP faction chairman Rahman said although the party's councillors had agreed to reject the accountability speech, the final decision would be made in a meeting on Friday between the councillors and PPP Jakarta chapter executives.
Meanwhile, Supangat from the PDI-P admitted that the party councillors' stance was dictated by the party central board.
Earlier on Wednesday, an executive of the PDI-P's central board, Tanwir Y. Mukawi, reiterated earlier comments by PDI-P executives, who blamed Sutiyoso for the sharp drop in the party's vote in Jakarta in the April 5 legislative elections.
"Sutiyoso evicted squatters prior to the elections. He has also made another unfortunate move by locking up a school building while we are busy preparing for the presidential election," he said, referring to Sunday's takeover of the SMP 56 state junior high school on Jl. Melawai Raya, South Jakarta.
The school's closure has forced its remaining students to study in the open air, giving rise to condemnation from legislators, who have promised to summon the governor and other people involved for explanations.
In the next session, the makeup of the council will change drastically with the Prosperous Justice Party (formerly the Justice Party faction) becoming the biggest faction with 18 seats, followed by newcomer, the Democratic Party, with 16 seats.
The PDI-P, Golkar Party and PAN only won 11, seven and six seats respectively.