Tangerang council fires speaker and deputies

TANGERANG (JP): A plenary session held by 35 legislators of Tangerang Council on Monday dismissed speaker Gian Sugiharsono and three of his deputies following a mob attack at the council building two weeks ago.

Gian had been accused of masterminding the attack, which left at least one councillor and one attacker injured.

The plenary session agreed unanimously to fire Gian, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), and three of his deputies: Ayat Sudayat from the Indonesian Military/Police faction, Krisna Gunala of the Golkar Party faction, and Burhan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction.

Based on an existing regulation, the plenary session agreed to appoint the youngest councillor, Iskandar Zulkarnaen, and the oldest one, Ridwan Anhar, to temporarily become speakers of the council.

"We are ready to face the court if they (Gian and his comrades) object to our decision," the new council chiefs said in a statement on Tuesday.

Iskandar also said the council had been given 90 days to elect new legislative board executives.

A group of policemen were seen guarding the building, but the session passed off peacefully.

The dramatic motion was sparked by the April 24 protest, which took place shortly after Gian, in his capacity as the council speaker, agreed to allow the development of 72 hectares of land in Koang Jaya subdistrict for a project to redirect the water from the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers without following council guidelines.

Residents are afraid that the project, intended to make Jakarta free from flooding, will cause Tangerang to suffer from floods.

Gian's decision led PAN, the Golkar Party, PDI Perjuangan and the United Development Party (PPP) to launch a no confidence vote against him. Gian and his three deputy speakers have reportedly not been to their office since the incident took place.

A group of hundreds of people, claiming themselves to be local PDI Perjuangan supporters, ran amok during the protest at the council building. They were demanding the resignation of the four Perjuangan councillors who they said had betrayed their party by voting for a motion of no confidence against Gian.

Besides damaging windows and other parts of the council building, the group also beat councillor and PDI Perjuangan faction chairman Teddy Subrata and local resident Ahmad Sanusi. (41/edt)