(JakGlobe) KMP "Jakarta Branch" Challenge Ahok After Inauguration

12/12/2018

Parties at the Jakarta City Council continued their bid on Thursday to thwart the inauguration as governor of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the acting governor.

The council was slated to hold a meeting between its speaker and four deputy speakers on Thursday to discuss preparations for a planned plenary session the next day that would announce Basuki’s succession as governor.

However, three of the deputy speakers refused to show up. All four deputy speakers are from the Red-White coalition, or KMP, of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, which has made no bones about its hostility toward Basuki, who served until recently as the deputy governor to Joko Widodo — the man who beat Prabowo at the polls.

The four deputy speakers demanded that the council speaker, Prasetyo Edi Marsudi from the non-KMP Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, postpone the inauguration and consult with the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court on whether Basuki really did have the right to automatically succeed Joko as governor, or whether a new vote should be held.

The law very clearly states that if the governor’s seat is vacated for any reason, the deputy governor will automatically become the new governor.

“There are still different interpretations of the law,” said Nasrullah, a councilor with the KMP’s Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

“We want a ruling [from the courts] so [the council’s] decision will be clearer.”

Ahmad Nawawi, a councilor from the Democratic Party, which is also part of the KMP, said that Basuki would need to resign first “and fix his tough attitude and tendency for insulting the council” before his party would endorse Basuki as governor.

But the PDI-P’s Johnny Simanjuntak pointed out that the council’s endorsement was merely a formality, and that under the law only the president, usually represented by the home affairs minister, had the authority to swear in a governor.

“The council doesn’t have the right to inaugurate [a governor], only the president can do that. The Jakarta City Council only endorse it,” Johnny said.

The current home minister, Tjahjo Kumolo from the PDI-P, has repeatedly called for Basuki to be formally sworn in as governor as soon as possible.

Johnny said his party would ask Tjahjo to intervene by taking over the mandate to inaugurate Basuki.

The minister “can do it at the [State] Palace or somewhere else,” he said.

“This has become a show of force considering the issues [brought up by the KMP] are so trivial,” he added.

“I’m actually embarrassed [by the City Council]. We were tasked to do this one simple thing, but we can’t. What will the world say? But then this is politics.”

Despite Thursday’s meeting not bearing any results, City Council Speaker Prasetyo said that Friday’s inauguration would proceed as planned.

He said it was imperative for the capital to have a governor in place, following the vacuum left by the departure of Joko, now the country’s president.

Basuki, for his part, said he was unfazed by the KMP’s objections and its plan to boycott his inauguration if it went ahead.

“It’s their right not to come to the plenary session,” he said at City Hall.

“By law, whether there’s a plenary session or no plenary session, it doesn’t matter. My inauguration will happen one way or another.”

The KMP’s resistance to Basuki becoming governor is spearheaded by Muhammad Taufik, the deputy council speaker from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) — from which Basuki resigned as a member after it backed a bill abolishing direct elections for governors, district heads and mayors.

Taufik is also a corruption convict, having served an 18-month sentence for embezzling funds from the Jakarta elections commission in 2004.

After Inauguration

Jakarta City Council has endorsed Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to be appointed governor, clearing the final hurdle in a succession process marred by dirty politicking.

The endorsement came at a plenary session of the council on Friday morning, presided over by Speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

“As speaker of the council, I declare and recommend to the president of the Republic of Indonesia, through the minister for home affairs, that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the acting governor of the special province of Jakarta, be inaugurated as governor for the remainder of the 2012-2017 term,” Prasetyo said at the close of the session.

The session lasted just 10 minutes and was attended by only 44 of the council’s 106 members. All the councilors from the Red-White coalition that opposes Basuki becoming governor opted to boycott the session.

While the attendance was short of the minimum of 54 typically required for a valid plenary session, Prasetyo said the quorum did not apply in this case because it was a special plenary session held under the auspices of a Home Affairs Ministry directive issued last month.

“If those on the other side believe it’s not valid, they can take it up with the Constitutional Court,” Prasetyo said.

With the City Council finally endorsing Basuki’s succession, the inauguration can take place as soon as the home minister decides.

The parties opposed to Basuki becoming governor have cited, among other reasons, his straightforward way of talking, refusal to pander to the special interests to which many council members are beholden, and ability to get things done without the need for the council’s weigh-in.

The KMP’s resistance to Basuki is spearheaded by Muhammad Taufik, the deputy council speaker from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) — from which Basuki resigned as a member after it backed a bill abolishing direct elections for governors, district heads and mayors.

Taufik is also a corruption convict, having served an 18-month sentence for embezzling funds from the Jakarta elections commission in 2004.

Also not a fan of Basuki is the Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, a militant group notorious for its vigilante raids and attacks against businesses and religious minorities. Basuki has filed a request with the Justice Ministry to have the group disbanded, citing its litany of unchecked criminal actions.

Even though he hasn’t been officially designated as governor, supporters took to Twitter and assigned the hashtag #GubernurAhok, which as of 5:20 p.m. local time was the fifth-ranked trending topic worldwide.

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(JakGlobe) KMP "Jakarta Branch" Challenge Ahok After Inauguration