Officials in Riau vow to sue governor over job transfers

Rizal Harahap , The Jakarta Post , Pekanbaru | Tue, 09/02/2008 10:19 AM | The Archipelago

Officials at the Riau provincial administration have protested newly installed Riau governor Wan Abubakar's move to transfer 76 high rank officials and suspend 14 others.

Some of the dismissed officials -- second and third echelon civil servants, ranks of whom are equivalent to agency heads -- plan to file a lawsuit to the State Administrative Court (PTUN) against Abubakar in the near future.

"I am very disappointed and disadvantaged by the move. Besides being suspended, I am assigned as just a staffer at the transportation office despite being its head once," said Tezzy D. Dachlan, an official who refuses to relinquish his post as head of the Communications and People's Unity Information Agency (BIKKB).

Tezzy believes his termination is illegitimate because he has never been reprimanded by the governor.

"I believe the governor is unfamiliar with the bureaucratic formality for, for example, when a person is wrong and has been reprimanded several times. Why am I suddenly dismissed without committing any offense?" he said.

Tezzy said he would not participate in the transfer of duty ceremony with his replacement and would remain working at the BIKKB office until PTUN issued a formal decision.

"If I take part in it, it means I accept the job transfer. I won't leave my office and will continue to work as usual before the problem is resolved. Don't try to kick me out," he said.

He said, however, he was unclear as to when he would file the lawsuit at the PTUN in Pekanbaru. "I am still consulting the matter with my legal advisers and will file it when every procedure has been met," he said.

Another official, Humizri Husein, who was demoted from his rank as the Riau Research and Development Agency head, said he would file a lawsuit to the PTUN on grounds of moral and material damages.

"A job transfer is usually the assignment of an employee to another position on the same level or higher ... I feel like I'm being dumped," he said.

Humizri said the job transfer decision went against regulations because only officials who had held their position for at least six months could be transferred to another post.

"I have only worked as research and development head for four months.

"I have appointed a lawyer to file a lawsuit to annul the decision," Humizri said.

Other officials planning to sue the governor include Riau administration spokesman Tengku Agusri and Riau Plantation Office head Akmal JS. Both were transferred to the Riau Research and Development Agency.

"I don't know on what reasons I was dismissed because I didn't commit any crimes and was never involved in any legal affairs. If the reason concerns professionalism, then my replacement is also not professional," Akmal said.

Acting Riau secretary Herliyan Saleh called on officials to respect the governor's decision and urged those who were opposed to the job transfers to drop their litigation plans.

"We'll see the developments initially while waiting for the governor to return from his haj pilgrimage."

A number of Riau legislators have criticized the stern stance of the officials objecting the job transfers. Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction member AB Purba said he was surprised to learn about the litigation plans because job transfers among officials in the bureaucracy was a normal matter and the governor's prerogative right.

"According to guidelines, they have no right to sue. Morally, a subordinate must respect the decision of a superior, especially when the home minister has approved the job transfer program," he said.

Hasyim Aliwa, a member of the Justice and Prosperity Party faction at the Riau legislature, criticized the resentment said it could undermine the administration's performance.

"There's no use of making a fuss about the posts. It would be better to focus on working to develop Riau, rather than wasting time on such trivial matters," he said.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |