Nethy Dharma Somba and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jayapura/Jakarta – Papuan lawmakers have urged Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi to replace caretaker governor Syamsul Arief due to him being "incapable of performing his tasks, especially in relation to holding gubernatorial elections".
Chairman of the Papuan Lawmaker Caucus, Paskalis Kossay said that the caucus and Papuan people were disappointed with the acting governor's performance since his appointment in July 2011.
The pitfalls, he said, were testified to by the absence of a fixed schedule of gubernatorial elections. "The time has come for him [Syamsul Arief Rivai] to be replaced by a competent acting governor," he said during a field tour on Wednesday.
Paskalis blamed the stalled gubernatorial election on Syamsul, whose main task was to help facilitate the organization of a gubernatorial election in the province. "Syamsul was appointed coincidentally as acting governor in West Papua. The election in West Papua was held in time and its elect governor was sworn in on Jan. 17, 2012," he said.
West Papua Governor Abraham Octavianus Atururi won re-election for the 2012-2017 period.
Paskalis said the caucus had delivered an official letter to the minister, asking for Syamsul's replacement with the hope that preparations for the gubernatorial election could be accelerated.
He said that according to the 2004 regional administration, an election should be held six months after the tenure of governor Barnabas Suebu expired in July 2011.
"Besides the incompetence issue, Syamsul should be replaced because he reached his mandatory pension age of 60 on Jan. 28, 2012 while the regional administration law requires acting governors to be active civil servants," he said.
Separately, the executive director of a Papuan NGO, Septer Manufandu, accused Syamsul of deliberately stalling the election, as indicated by the absence of a serious move to resolve the prolonged conflict between the provincial legislature and the provincial general election commission.
He regretted that Syamsul did not show a strong commitment to implementing the home minister's decree in resettling the conflict between the two provincial institutions.
According to the minister's decree, the gubernatorial election is generally similar to the ones in other provinces, except for the special requirements that governor and deputy governor candidates for Papua must be indigenous Papuans.
Meanwhile, the director general of regional autonomy at the Home Ministry, Djohermansyah Djohan, denounced critics as misleading because Syamsul's retirement age had already been extended by the minister in January and the election's postponement had nothing to do with his performance.
"The law on civil servants allows the government to extend state officials' pension age if it is needed and deemed necessary, and Syamsul's retirement age has been extended until January 2013," he said.
Djohermansyah also said the election's suspension was caused by the late deliberation by the provincial legislature of the special bylaw on local elections in the province, and that the bylaw had already been endorsed by the provincial legislature and approved by the minister.
"The home minister is waiting for the proposal of the election schedule and its phases from the provincial election commission," he said, added that Jakarta had entrusted Papuans with organizing the election.
Djohermansyah also said the minister had his own considerations and authority in appointing Syamsul as acting governor as stipulated in the regional administration law.
He cited a fact that Syamsul was former director general of regional development affairs at the ministry and was also an acting governor in West Papua until a permanent governor was elected.