Truant council members to face dismissals in North Sumatra
Truant council members to face dismissals in North Sumatra
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Truant legislators in North Sumatra will be subject to dismissal
if the provincial legislative council approves a standing order
on this issue later in the month.
Sigit Pramono Asri, a member of the council's special
committee deliberating the standing order, said on Friday that
all committee members had agreed on a stipulation allowing the
dismissal of truant councillors.
However, the final decision would be put before the 85-member
council later this month, he added.
He said the plan to impose severe sanctions on councillors for
disciplinary offenses, such as absenteeism, was a result of the
poor performance of the 1999-2004 council.
Absenteeism was rampant among members of the previous council,
which affected its performance in deliberating bills, said Sigit,
who is himself one of the reelected legislators.
"It's our moral commitment as the people's representatives to
uphold discipline. So there is a need to impose sanctions on lazy
councillors," he told The Jakarta Post.
The decision refers to Article 109 of Government Regulation
No. 25/2004, which mandates sanctions against truant state
officials, he added.
Sigit said that under the new standing order, councillors must
attend all council meetings in person and that those failing to
show up would be required to give written notice to their faction
leaders.
Councillors who failed to turn up for three consecutive
meetings without giving written notice would be issued with
written reprimands by their faction leaders, he said.
A failure to attend council meetings for three consecutive
months without giving acceptable reasons would constitute an
violation of the council code of conduct and violators could be
dismissed from the council, he added.
Rijal Sirait, another special committee member, agreed that
the issue of absenteeism needed to be responded to seriously by
the council in a bid to boost its image among the voters.
A proposal to dismiss a truant councillor would have to be
recommended by the council's disciplinary committee to the
relevant faction leader, who would then submit it to his faction
for follow-up, he explained.
"So, a decision to fire a councillor will be made by his own
faction. In the past, factions recalled their members for
outspokenness or critical comments.
"But now legislators can been recalled from the council for
failing to promote the people's aspirations or for merely coming
to meetings, and doing nothing," Rijal said.
Support for the proposed standing order allowing the dismissal
of absentee councillors also came from another councillor, Fadli
Nurzal. "It's a positive move designed to prevent council members
from simply showing up for no other reason than to collect their
stipends," he said.