West Java gears for first election under autonomy

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

West Java is preparing for its first gubernatorial election in the regional autonomy era, with candidates from civilian and military backgrounds vying for the province's top job.

The winner of the election will replace Governor R. Nuriana, whose second term expires in June. The former chief of the Siliwangi Military Command, which oversees West Java, has been the province's governor since 1992.

A draft of the election procedures is currently being finalized, said Syarif Bastaman, who heads the committee at the West Java legislative council that is drafting the procedures.

He said the gubernatorial election was scheduled to take place in June.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has given us until Jan. 23 to have the election procedures endorsed during a plenary session of the local council," Bastaman said in Bandung on Wednesday.

The draft of the procedures, he said, was based in part on input from a number of organizations and local public figures. But only educational institutions and organizations were asked for their opinions, he said, explaining that most other organizations and institutions were affiliated with political parties.

"This is to avoid the interests of political parties interfering with the draft process," said Bastaman, a councillor from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

The upcoming gubernatorial election will mark the first time that the West Java legislative council will elect the governor, the task having previously fallen to Jakarta.

Regional autonomy is part of the sweeping political changes triggered by the downfall of former president Soeharto in 1998.

Fearing the political changes of 1998 would lead rich provinces to break away from Indonesia, Jakarta moved to assuage demands for greater authority by passing the autonomy law in 1999.

The Directorate General for Regional Autonomy at the Ministry of Home Affairs has ruled that election procedures should refer to the autonomy law and its directives, Bastaman said.

"They gave us, as a guideline, regional autonomy law No. 22/1999 and government regulation 151/2000 on the procedures for electing the head of a region," he said.

Based on these guidelines, a gubernatorial candidate's race, religion or place of domicile cannot be made a requirement for the election, he said.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of West Java population is Muslim Sundanese, according to Bastaman.

"The point is, that it's all right that (candidates) may be ethnic Minang, non-Muslim and live outside of West Java," he said. "There are lots of people who have been living in West Java for the past 10 years but don't care about what's going on in West Java."

He said the committee drafting the election procedures also was seeking to counter the belief that a West Java governor must have a military background.

The province was seen as the backbone to security in Jakarta under Soeharto's three decades of iron rule.

During the Soeharto years, a governor from the military was seen as being more reliable than a civilian in maintaining security.

Local political parties, meanwhile, have begun listing their candidates for the gubernatorial race.

The head of the local chapter of PDI Perjuangan, Rudi Harsa Tanaya, is one of those who has been named a candidate, and he is optimistic about securing a win.

Rudi said the party's West Java chapter picked him to run for the gubernatorial seat, but added that the decision needed the approval of the party's chairwoman, President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Another candidate is former Siliwangi Military chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Tayo Tarmadi, who was nominated by the West Java chapter of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The local chapter of the Golkar Party has yet to name any candidates. "It's too early, even though many people have come to Golkar asking to be nominated. But we haven't decided," said Bambang Haryono, the secretary of the Golkar faction at the council.