DPD members begin campaigns for reelection

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/10/2008 10:20 AM  |  National

Members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) have begun campaigning for reelection in their respective provinces, ahead of the 2009 general elections.

Mochtar Naim and Mohammad Surya were among those who officially announced their candidacies. Both legislators are members of the council's Ad Hoc Committee III overseeing education and religious affairs.

"I debated with myself over whether I should run for reelection," Mochtar, 76, who represents the province of West Sumatra, said Monday.

A former lecturer at Andalas University and former director of the Center for Minangkabau Studies, Mochtar said many of his constituents, including academics, had asked him to run in 2009.

"They told me, *You are actually old but your spirit remains young'," he said.

General elections will be held in Indonesia on April 5, 2009, to elect new national and local legislators and new members of the DPD, first formed after the 2004 elections.

Under previous law, only those who had lived in a province for at least three years could run as a DPD candidate for that province. In addition, members of political parties were not eligible to run.

But the 2008 election law allows for candidates to run for seats in provinces where they are not resident, and also allows for both independent candidates and political party members to contest the election. The DPD has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to review the new law.

The law requires each candidate to have a signed petition from at least 1,000 people in provinces with a population of less than one million. In provinces with a population of more than 15 million, candidates have to have backing from at least 5,000 people.

Candidates are required to submit the petitions and copies of the signatories' ID cards when registering their nominations.

"After discussing the issue with my family, I decided to run again for a DPD seat next year," Mochtar said.

He said his campaign team has so far gathered 400 signatories. Irman Gusman, Zairin Kasim and Afdal, DPD members from West Sumatra, said they have each secured at least 2,000 signatories.

Mohammad Surya, representing the province of West Java, said he was also in the process of garnering support for reelection.

Eni Khairani, chairwoman of Ad Hoc Committee III, said she wished her colleagues the best of luck in their bids to win a second term on the Council.

"Hopefully we will all meet again at the DPD offices next year," she said.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.