Jakarta – Voters turn to independent political candidates when they feel disappointed in party-affiliated politicians. Most times, independent candidates stand out for their integrity as has been shown by candidate Faisal Basri in the Jakarta gubernatorial election. Alas, this has not been the case in Garut, West Java.
Aceng HM Fikri assumed his post as the Garut regent after winning the 2009 local election on an independent ticket. But instead of progress, he has drawn attention to Garut for all the wrong reasons.
Aceng recently made headlines after a teenaged girl, identified only as FO alleged that the regent had divorced her via text message only four days after they tied the knot. Aceng was reportedly still married to Nurrohimah, with whom he has three children, when he decided to take FO as his new wife.
Aceng recently went on national television to explain his reasons for divorcing FO. He claimed he was disappointed after discovering that his young bride was not a virgin. He then decided to take back the dowry worth Rp 250 million (US$26,055) that he had given her.
"I spent almost Rp 250 million to sleep with her for one night. Even sleeping with a celebrity would not have cost me that much," Aceng said recently.
After the scandal, the media began to examine his record more closely and found that under his leadership, Garut had registered no significant progress.
According to a survey by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2011, nearly half of the 2.3 million residents of the regency remained poor.
Local media reported that the administration had put a Rp 3 billion cap on its healthcare budget, which prevented Garut from paying for services provided by local hospitals. Many of the hospitals are reported to have turned away poor patients.
In education, Garut is the only regency in West Java that failed to provide school operational assistance (BOS) funds from its budget. The local administration spent around 69 percent of its budget on civil servants' salaries and 13 percent on procurement and services.
Critics also say Aceng, who is a graduate of a local Islamic college and who was active in various Islamic organizations before running for the regent position, has failed to effectively run the regency, known as a tourist destination.
Aceng has blamed local politics. "We face difficulties in running programs that were part of our mission during the campaign, due to a political tug-of-war," he told The Jakarta Post in May.
Recently, Aceng also caused a stir after he was alleged to have sold the deputy regent's position, which fell vacant upon the resignation of Dicky Chandra in 2011.
Dicky, a former actor and comedian, was elected as Aceng's deputy regent in 2009. However, he resigned two years later due to irreconcilable differences with Aceng. Dicky was formerly a member of the National Awakening Party (PKB), but when the party did not nominate him as a candidate for the 2008 election, he ran as an independent, hoping to exploit his popularity as a performer.
He was unexpectedly elected in two rounds of voting, running against seven candidates. The Aceng-Dicky ticket garnered 535,289 votes – 57 percent of the total eligible vote.
Following Dicky's resignation, the regent was accused of selling the vacant position for Rp 239 million although investigations produced no evidence to support this allegation.