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Govt faces mounting criticism for tapping senior TNI official as interim regent
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A worker arranges the ballot papers for the 2020 Makassar regional elections at the Celebes Convention Center in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Nov. 24, 2020. (Antara/Arnas Padda)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration is in hot water after appointing a senior Indonesian Military (TNI) official as interim regent in Maluku despite swelling criticism, fueling further speculation of a “hidden agenda” and prompting concern over a “prolonged polemic” on the opaque process to replace hundreds of outgoing regional heads.
Home Minister Tito Karnavian recently appointed the State Intelligence Agency’s (BIN) Central Sulawesi bureau head Brig. Gen. Andi Chandra As'aduddin as the acting regent of West Seram in Maluku, assuming leadership of the elected regent whose term expired last week.
Stringent security measures were in place as hundreds of local police officers were seen on guard to secure the swearing-in of Andi, two other regents and a mayor by outgoing Maluku Governor Murad Ismail in the provincial capital of Ambon last week.
Their appointment took place in the face of simmering criticism over the absence of a much-awaited new regulation detailing transparent and accountable procedures for vetting interim leaders as ruled by the Constitutional Court in April.
The prevailing 2016 Regional Elections Law authorizes the government to appoint high-ranking government officials, such as secretaries-general, directors general and provincial secretaries, as interim governors, regents and mayors until some 270 definitive leaders are elected in 2024 polls.
In its judicial opinion issued as part of a ruling on the appointment of acting regional heads, the court said the government needed to consider devising regulations that ensured “measurable and clear mechanisms” as a way to make sure it did not ignore democratic principles. The regulation should serve as the implementing regulations of the 2016 law, which bans active military and police personnel from running for regional heads but says nothing as to whether or not they can be appointed as interim heads.
The court also stressed, citing the 2014 Civil Servants Law, that TNI personnel and police officers could be appointed to certain high-ranking government positions after they had been discharged from duty “if it is necessary and [if their] competencies match through an open and competitive process”. This makes them eligible to serve as acting governors.
