Tangerang regent to be sued

TANGERANG (JP): A candidate for the head of Ketapang village plans to sue Tangerang Regent Agus Djunara for canceling the village head election.

Candidate Buang Budiman said on Wednesday he would file a lawsuit against Agus at the State Administrative Court in Bandung to get back the money he had spent to get elected.

"I suffered great losses from the cancellation, as I had spent millions of rupiah to treat my supporters during the election campaign," Buang said.

He said the cancellation decree was issued by the regent on Nov. 12, 1998, but on the same day another decree confirming the list of candidates for the election was also issued.

"It was strange that two contradictory decrees were issued on the same day," he said.

According to the decree on the list of candidates, he said, village head elections would be held in 116 villages throughout the regency.

But the other decree canceled elections at 15 of the villages, he said.

The 15 villages were Ketapang, Tanjung Anom, Sukadamai, Budimulya, Setu, Muncul, Rawa Mekarjaya, Cirumpak, Mekar Baru, Klutuk, Gandaria, Ranca Buaya, Sukamanah, Kutajaya and Rawarengas.

The regency's administrative affairs head, Kusnadi, explained on Wednesday that the elections at the 15 villages were actually not canceled, but were postponed for security reasons.

"How can a safe election be held if a meeting about the election preparations at the village office is protested by local residents?" Kusnadi said. (41/jun