TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Tension high after candidate ousted from race
Law enforcers in the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado have stepped up security following the recent decision by the local election organizers to annul the candidacy of former mayor Jimmy Rimba Rogi in the cityâs upcoming mayoral election due to his status as a graft convict on parole
Change Size
L
aw enforcers in the North Sulawesi provincial capital of Manado have stepped up security following the recent decision by the local election organizers to annul the candidacy of former mayor Jimmy Rimba Rogi in the city's upcoming mayoral election due to his status as a graft convict on parole.
North Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Wilmar Marpaung said he had deployed 1,000 police personnel, one-third of the police force in the province, in anticipation of any possible violent protests against the decision.
The personnel, Wilmar said, had been stationed at the headquarters of the North Sulawesi General Elections Commission (KPUD), North Sulawesi Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the Manado KPUD. Police personnel are also on standby to protect the residences of the KPUD commissioners.
'I hope people can channel their protests calmly,' Wilmar said on Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the North Sulawesi KPUD issued a letter instructing the Manado KPUD to annul the candidacy of Jimmy and running mate Boby Daud for the upcoming mayoral election, scheduled to be held on Dec. 9.
Jimmy, a former Manado mayor, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in 2009 for embezzling Rp 68.8 billion (US$5.02 million) from the city's budget.
Speaking in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on the same day, National KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik said that three candidates for the upcoming regional elections, including one from Manado, had been identified as graft convicts on parole and therefore their candidacies had to be annulled.
'We have instructed the KPUDs in the three regions to annul their candidacies. If not implemented, the elections in the three regions will be taken over by the respective provincial KPUDs,' Husni said.
On Wednesday, hundreds of people who claimed to be Jimmy-Boby supporters flocked to the North Sulawesi Regional Legislative Council (DPRD), where KPUD and Bawaslu members attended a hearing with local councilors. Police personnel quickly formed up to prevent the crowd from entering the compound.
The pair's legal team head Jamhur, meanwhile, expressed the hope that the Manado KPUD would reinstate the pair's candidacy.
'We ask the Manado KPUD as an official institution for the mayoral election to remain independent and not to be influenced by pressures from the provincial and the central KPU,' Jamhur said.
Last week, Yusak Yaluwo, a regent candidate for Boven Digoel, Papua, was removed from the registered candidates list for the regency's election due to his status as a convicted graft offender on parole.
Since 2005, governors, mayors and regents have been directly elected by citizens in separate, five-yearly local elections. To promote efficiency, the government is planning to hold simultaneous local elections in 269 regions this year and hundreds of others in 2016 and 2017.
In Riau, the provincial KPUD on Tuesday evening organized a debate for the two Riau governor candidate pairs. They discussed their respective plans for the BKK (Batam, Bintan and Karimun) and Tanjungpinang free trade zones.
