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North Sumatra governor wants residents to obey, or else he resigns
Edy says he invited regency and municipality leaders for an "important meeting" but not all of them came.
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North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana )
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orth Sumatra governor Edy Rahmayadi threatened to resign on the first anniversary of his leadership, which will be in four months, if residents of the province “can no longer be led [by him]."
“I have been governor for eight months. We will see in the next four months. If the residents of North Sumatra cannot be led by me, I will resign. The press, please write that in big letters,” Edy said on Sunday at an event organized by the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI).
For a leader to be successful, the people he leads have to "obey, be willing to be led", Edy said.
Edy said synergy between leaders and residents was very important to achieve their shared missions, including the mission to build a better province. Such synergy has been absent in the province, as the North Sumatra administration failed to fix its performance accountability on the national scale.
Edy revealed that North Sumatra had received the lowest rank in performance accountability of government agencies -- or 34th out of 34 provinces in the country. He was embarrassed about this state of affairs. He blamed uncooperative regents and mayors for this.
The governor, who was backed by six political parties including the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) during the regional elections last year, said previously that he tried to gather all city and regency leaders in an “important meeting”, but not all of them came.
“The city and regency leaders just sent some representatives, who cannot decide a thing, to the meeting,” Edy said.
A social and political lecturer from North Sumatra University, Muryanto Amin, said Edy’s threat to resign was an expression of disappointment, as the administration had yet to show a maximum performance during his leadership.
Despite Edy’s strong intention to resign, Muryanto explained that it would not be that easy. “A governor cannot just step down like that from his position. There is a mechanism to follow, and the regional council has to accept the resignation proposal first.” Muryanto explained.
Edy was also a chairman of the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) until he resigned in January. He has made some controversial remarks in public. One of the most talked-about remarks was when he scolded Kompas TV host Aiman Witjaksono for questioning his capability in having two jobs, PSSI chairman and North Sumatra governor, in September last year. His remark, "What is your business asking that?" has been made into memes.
(vny/evi)
