Sutiyoso's bid to fight collusion draws criticism

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso vowed yesterday to remove collusion, corruption, cronyism and nepotism from the city administration.

"What must be done first is to reform the mentality of our staff. Everybody must go through a period of introspection," he said.

"I've briefed all the mayors. The next step is to talk to all district heads," the governor said.

However, Sutiyoso's vow drew harsh criticism from two senior city councilors, who insisted that it was the governor himself who needed to be introspective if collusion and nepotism in his office really were to be brought to an end.

Saud Rachman from the United Development Party (PPP) faction said Sutiyoso must first reflect on whether or not he was a product of the practices himself.

There is strong evidence that Sutiyoso's success in the gubernatorial election was engineered, he said.

"Our faction was instructed by city council speaker Edy Waluyo to vote for Sutiyoso," Saud said.

"Edy told us at a meeting in this room (the faction's meeting room): 'To achieve harmony and stability in the city administration we needed to speak with the same voice. That means that we have to vote for Sutiyoso,'" he added.

He said Edy might have said this under pressure from even higher ranking officials.

"We proposed three candidates for the election: Surjadi Soedirdja (Sutiyoso's predecessor), Hendro Priyono (now Minister of Transmigration and Resettlement of Forest Nomads) and Sutiyoso," he said.

Head of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction Lukman F. Mokoginta said yesterday that his faction had never been put under pressure to choose Sutiyoso.

"I had to vote for him because he was the only candidate left. My faction originally proposed Surjadi Soedirdja, Hendro Priyono, Sutiyoso and M. Ritonga (former city council speaker)," he said.

"But Surjadi, Hendro and Ritonga all resigned before voting took place leaving me with no choice but to vote for Sutiyoso," he said.

According to existing regulations, all city council factions must consult the minister of home affairs over their choice of candidates, he added.

"The minister (then Yogie S. Memed) did not encourage us to vote for Sutiyoso. He only told us to go on with our plans," he added.

After other names proposed by the factions were removed, two candidates endorsed by the Ministry of Home Affairs ran against Sutiyoso in the election last October. The two candidates were Tubagus Rais, a former deputy governor for economic and development affairs, and Achmadi, who formerly lead the Golkar faction in the council.

Saud said the two other candidates were only included to make the election appear fair.

"Their names were included in the voting so that Sutiyoso would not be the only choice. It was a ploy to make the election look democratic," Saud said.

He said Sutiyoso won 62 votes. Rais received five votes and Achmadi eight.

"I can tell you now that to follow the speaker's instruction, our faction actually arranged for a few people to vote for Rais and Achmadi to make the count look more natural," Saud said.

He said that he was not asking Sutiyoso to step down, even though he thought that collusion had helped the governor into office.

"But if he does resign, it would show that he is a person of impeccable integrity," Saud said.

Head of the Armed Forces faction Sumekar did not comment on Saud and Lukman's allegations, but said he would back Sutiyoso in his bid to eradicate malfeasance within the administration.

Fatommy Asaari, head of the Golkar faction, refused to say if his faction was instructed to vote for Sutiyoso.

"That is strictly my faction's business," he retorted. (cst)