Jakarta – A hard-won victory in the protracted process to get Jakarta Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama inaugurated as governor proper appeared short-lived on Friday, as political opponents of the popular leader sought to challenge his endorsement.
The Jakarta City Council on Friday morning convened a special plenary session to endorse the succession before the inauguration sometime next week, but parties in the Red-White coalition, or KMP, which boycotted the session, declared the meeting and endorsement invalid.
"There will be a legitimate plenary session... next week," said Muhammad Taufik, the council deputy speaker from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the chief critic of the acting governor.
Taufik, a corruption convict who served an 18-month sentence for embezzling funds from the Jakarta elections commission in 2004, claimed the endorsement was invalid because none of the council's four deputy speakers, all from KMP parties, was at the session.
However, Council Speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that because it was a special plenary session, none of the usual requirements applied.
The session, which began at 11 a.m. and lasted just 10 minutes, was attended by just 44 of the council's 106 members.
"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.
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," he said.
Not bothered by boycott
Basuki, meanwhile, brushed off the KMP's objections to the endorsement, adding he wasn't bothered by their boycott of the plenary session. "I'm just trying to get work done, no more of this political stuff," he said.
He conceded that even after his imminent inauguration as governor, the KMP could, with its majority in the City Council, thwart his programs for the city. But again he declared he was unfazed by the hostility.
"So be it. That means we also won't discuss the annual budget and [the councilors] won't get paid. Maybe they're rich already and don't need a salary," Basuki said.
Independent state administrative law expert Refly Harun said Basuki's detractors had "no legal grounds for rejecting" his succession to governor. He cited electoral laws stipulating that deputy governors would automatically become governor in the event that the latter post was vacated for any reason.
Djohermansyah Djohan, the Home Affairs Ministry's director general for regional autonomy, said city councilors who refused to acknowledge Basuki as Jakarta's governor after his inauguration, expected sometime next week, could face administrative sanctions from the central government "for not abiding by the law." He did not elaborate on the possible sanctions.
12,000 security personnel
The Jakarta Police, meanwhile, plan to deploy 12,000 personnel to safeguard Basuki's inauguration, although details on when and where the inauguration will take place have yet to be decided.
The Islamic Defenders Front, or FPI, a militant group notorious for its vigilante raids and attacks against businesses and religious minorities, has held rallies against Basuki becoming governor, and in one protest last month attacked police personnel with rocks, cow patties and a sword.
Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono, the city police chief, said the police would continue to allow demonstrations against Basuki's inauguration, but only if they remained peaceful. "Express your opinions in public peacefully," he said.
Police will stage a joint exercise with the Indonesian Military on Monday to prepare for the inauguration.
Basuki has filed a request with the Justice Ministry to have the FPI disbanded, citing its litany of unchecked criminal actions. In response, the FPI has reported Basuki to the Jakarta Police for defamation and unpleasant conduct.
The group objects to Basuki because it deems that as a Christian and an ethnic Chinese, he is unfit to lead a Muslim-majority city.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/basukis-opponents-vow-prolong-fight/