Wahidin to lead Tangerang, pledges to help the needy
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Wahidin Halim, secretary to the Tangerang municipal administration, was elected on Wednesday as mayor of the industrial town Tangerang, located near Jakarta.
Wahidin, the sibling of foreign affairs minister Hasan Wirayuda, edged out two other candidates by pocketing 34 out of 42 votes.
He was paired in the election with Deddy Sjafei, the executive chairman of the municipal branch of the Nation Mandate Party (PAN). Wahidin and Deddy will be installed as mayor and deputy mayor on Nov. 29 for 2003-2008 term. They were nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party factions respectively.
Besides Wahidin and Deddy, two other pairs of candidates contested the election. They were Rusman Umar and Madsani Machmud who were nominated by the United Development Party (PPP) factions while Fakhrudin and Sadjiran Tarmizie were nominated by the Madani faction received four votes each.
Forty three out of 45 councillors attended the election but only 42 cast votes, with another councillor abstaining. The municipal council speaker Gian Sugiharsono, who had earlier stated that he would abstain in the election, was absent. Another councillor Samidi died of a heart attack in hospital a week before the election.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed around the council building and the municipal administration office center complex on Jalan Satria Sudirman to safeguard the proceedings.
Wahidin told The Jakarta Post after the election that he would mainly focus on educational and health infrastructure development, two sectors he thought were still in poor condition.
"As I told you before, besides that, unemployment and flood handling programs are also serious problems that need special attention from this administration ahead," he said.
Meanwhile, chairman of the election committee Krisna Gunata said the public had between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 to express their views and opinions on the election of the new mayor and deputy mayor.
"The new mayor and his deputy have to be installed in office by Nov. 29, when outgoing mayor M. Thamrin ends his term," he told the Post.
The chairman of the municipal NGOs Komunike Presidium for the Election Control Imron Hamami said that Wahidin won the votes because he had advantages compared to the two other candidates.
"Wahidin Halim is more acceptable to all community and religious figures in the municipality because he has a good reputation and a solid track record. It is no wonder if support spontaneously came to him without being engineered," he said.
Wowok Prabowo, an intellectual said that Wahidin had a better vision and mission than the other two candidates.
"Wahidin is a quite experienced administration official and possesses a good knowledge of governance," he said.