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Jakarta Post

Risma leaves office with dignity, confident of December comeback

Running again: Former Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini (center) greets supporters outside the Grahadi State Building in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday, her last day in office

Indra Harsaputra (The Jakarta Post)
Surabaya
Tue, September 29, 2015

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Risma leaves office with dignity, confident of December comeback Running again: Former Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini (center) greets supporters outside the Grahadi State Building in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday, her last day in office. The popular mayor is seeking a second term.(Antara/Zabur Karuru) (center) greets supporters outside the Grahadi State Building in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday, her last day in office. The popular mayor is seeking a second term.(Antara/Zabur Karuru)

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span class="inline inline-center">Running again: Former Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini (center) greets supporters outside the Grahadi State Building in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday, her last day in office. The popular mayor is seeking a second term.(Antara/Zabur Karuru)

After completing a five-year term as Surabaya mayor, on Monday Tri Rismaharini officially handed over the leadership of the country'€™s second-largest city to acting mayor Nurwiyanto at the Grahadi State Building.

The award-winning leader, popularly known as Risma, will later be campaigning for reelection in the city'€™s mayoral election on Dec. 9.

Risma, who was first elected mayor in 2010, rose to popularity after her success in transforming Surabaya, a once neglected city, into a city with many first-class public parks.

Known for her outspoken personality, Risma is also highly regarded for her success in closing down Dolly, the city'€™s notorious red light district, last year. On Monday, dozens of local women, most of them housewives, gathered in front of the Grahadi building to show their support for the outgoing mayor. The crowd also erected several banners bearing sentences like '€œNever say goodbye, Bu Risma'€ and '€œI love you, Bu Risma'€ to express their affection for Risma.

Forty-five-year-old Hartini of Sidotopo subdistrict said she had joined the crowd to show her support for Risma'€™s reelection bid. Hartini said Risma'€™s leadership had made Surabaya a more comfortable place to live. She also applauded Risma for her success in ending rampant prostitution in the city.

'€œThe majority of women most definitely disagree with prostitution,'€ she told The Jakarta Post.

Speaking after Monday'€™s ceremony, East Java Governor Soekarwo, said Nurwiyanto, previously East Java Inspectorate head, would serve as acting mayor until a winner of the city'€™s mayoral election was declared.

The elections will be held concurrently with 268 regional head elections nationwide in December.

'€œStarting tomorrow [Tuesday], Risma'€™s replacement will start working to continue the [city'€™s] existing programs. I believe Nurwiyanto is ready for his task,'€ Soekarwo said after the ceremony.

Speaking in front of Surabaya municipal administration staff earlier on Monday, Risma asked the city'€™s civil servants to maintain their integrity and provide consistently quality services to the community in her absence.

Head of the Surabaya branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Jamhadi, meanwhile, expressed the hope that the temporary change in leadership in Surabaya would not influence the performance of and services provided by the city administration apparatus.

'€œEmployers hope that the acting mayor will continue existing programs and be capable of maintaining political and security stability in Surabaya ahead of the upcoming election in December,'€ Jamhadi said.

With 2.1 million registered voters, the Surabaya mayoral election will be the largest election at the municipal and regency levels this year.

The mayoral election was previously almost postponed until 2017 as a result of political parties'€™ reluctance to field candidates to challenge the reelection bid of Risma and running mate Wisnu Sakti Buana, who were endorsed by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) earlier this year.

But the competition is now set to go ahead as planned after the Regional General Elections Commission last week officially approved the candidacy of the Rasiyo-Lucy Kurniasari ticket, which is supported by the Democratic Party (PD) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Political observer Hariyadi of Surabaya-based Airlangga University said that although Nurwiyanto was a close aide of Soekarwo, who leads PD'€™s East Java chapter, it would be difficult for the acting mayor to take political actions that favored the PD's mayoral candidate. '€œThe PDI-P, as Risma'€™s nominating party, will closely monitor Nurwiyanto'€™s performance,'€ he said.

Earlier this year, American business magazine Fortune named Risma among the world'€™s 50 greatest leaders. Risma, the only Indonesian on the list, ranked 24th, above Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Xiaomi'€™s CEO Lei Jun and Nigeria'€™s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

In February last year, she was elected Mayor of the Month by the City Mayors Foundation, an international association based in London.
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