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New Bogor leaders sworn in
Bima Arya Sugiarto
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Bima Arya Sugiarto. tribunnews.com
New Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto and Deputy Mayor Usmar Hariman were presented with a pile of work by the West Java governor and members of the public on their first day of taking office in the municipality on Monday.
'I extend my gratitude to members of the public who voted for me. As the mayor, I will try to accommodate all Bogor residents' interests, including those who did not vote for me,' he said to Bogor residents at Bogor City Hall.
Bima said he would make Bogor a pedestrian-friendly city and establish a lot of parks in the city. 'Bogor's development must look to the future and must be environmentally friendly because development is for the welfare of all Bogor residents, not for the interest of particular parties,' he said.
Meanwhile, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said that although Bogor had become one of the most advanced regions in the province in terms of infrastructure, economy and human resources, it did not mean that the city was free of development problems.
Heryawan said Bima must pay attention to five basic urban problems: public transportation, street vendor areas, waste management, spatial planning and public services.
Heryawan encouraged the Bogor city administration to increase the city's open spaces. He said the city administration needed to revitalize less productive land into green areas, such as parks and urban forests, to achieve the city's minimum proportion of green space of 30 percent of the entire city area.
A few days before Bima's first day in office, a group of interfaith and human rights non-governmental organizations and the management of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin visited Bima's house to urge him to not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Diani Budiarto, who revoked the church's permit despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering that the church be reopened.
Bima, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, responded that dialogue was the only one way to solve the protracted case of GKI Yasmin.
'To resolve the GKI Yasmin issue, dialogue is needed. I have met with the representatives of GKI Yasmin. Later there will be dialogue,' said
On Friday, GKI Yasmin representatives accompanied by activists of the Wahid Institute, Setara Institute and Indonesian Legal Research Center (ILRC) went to Bima's house in Bogor to hand him a letter, which contained the hopes and support of the GKI Yasmin congregation and interfaith communities for Bima as the new mayor.
Bima recently promised that he would make the GKI Yasmin issue one of his priorities to be resolved after he took office.
GKI Yasmin was sealed in 2010 by former mayor Diani Budiarto, who defied a Supreme Court ruling ordering the reopening of the church. The closure and subsequent court ruling prompted the congregation to hold services outside the church building.
Bogor municipality, which is 54 kilometers south of Jakarta, has a population of almost 1 million. The city, which has the moniker 'Rain City' due to its high rate of rainfall, boasts a presidential palace, the Bogor Botanical Gardens and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.
