C

ity secretary Saefullah was supposed to take leave for his gubernatorial bid after several political parties tapped him as a strong candidate for the top post in the capital.

However, the parties are not interested in actually nominating him.

The official, instead, has ended up covering Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who are running in the 2017 election, when they take leave during the campaign period as required by the Regional Election Law.

Saefullah said there was nothing to worry about in Ahok and Djarot’s absence, explaining that he would safeguard the city’s programs and make sure that the regional budget allocation would be efficient.

Saefullah, having geared up for duty, said that the administration would first finish adjusting this year’s city budget.

“I will make sure the budget stays on track,” he said at the City Hall

Previously Ahok had expressed his concern that Election Law required him and his deputy to take a leave from office during the campaign period as it coincided with the examination of disbursement of the 2016 city budget.

The governor has also highlighted several city administration programs that he plans to supervise personally, including mass transportation system development, public housing, anticipatory flood preparations considering the La Niña phenomenon, which would take place between October and February 2017.

The campaign period is scheduled to fall between Oct. 26 and Feb. 11; however, if there are more than two pairs of candidates and neither of them gain the voting majority required to settle the issue beyond doubt, the voters would cast their ballots in a second round. This scenario would forced the candidates to campaign for an additional two months.

Besides Ahok and Djarot, deputy governor for culture and tourism in Jakarta Sylviana Murni is also set to take leave following her decision to run as a deputy candidate for Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Three out of six candidates in the Jakarta gubernatorial election are coming from city administration.

In August, Ahok challenged the Regional Election Law at the Constitutional Court, demanding that the court revise the part of the law that states an incumbent regional head must take a leave of absence if he or she wishes to campaign for re-election.

While the court has yet to make its ruling, Ahok, Djarot and Sylviana have submitted statement letters to the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPUD) declaring their willingness to take campaign leave following their registrations as candidates for the upcoming election.

“The official permission to take a campaign leave must be given after the KPUD has named the candidates for the elections,” Ahok said when he submitted the document on Friday.

On Friday, Djarot made sure that their absence would not cause any harm to the city administration programs or the 2016 city budget. He was certain that Saefullah would be able do the job without any problems.

“I assure you there will be no violations to the budget allocation,” Djarot said. (adt)