Sutiyoso's bid to fight collusion draws criticism
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)