Tangerang council fires speaker and deputies

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)