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Out with old, fresh faces to dominate City Council
A total of 59 new faces, more than half of all councilors-elect, will enter the City Council, with some still in their early 20s.
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Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and members of the City Council join a special plenary meeting to celebrate Jakarta's 492nd anniversary on June 22. (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
T
he City Council will welcome a fresh batch of politicians after Jakartans cast their votes in April’s general election, with more than half of the seats to be filled by new faces, some as young as their early 20s.
According to a Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) plenary meeting on Monday to finalize the councilors-elect, 59 of the 106 elected councilors have not previously held a seat in the council, while the remaining are incumbents.
They are set to be inaugurated on Aug. 26.
The youngest councilor-elect is Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) politician William Aditya Sarana, who is 23 years old and will graduate from the University of Indonesia’s (UI) law school on Aug. 30.
One of eight councilors-elect from new party PSI, William claims he is no stranger to politics, having been involved in various student movements since high school.
He said he wanted to enter politics because he believed the Jakarta administration’s performance was lacking and because none of the city’s councilors reported their wealth through the electronic wealth reporting (LHKPN) system in 2018.
“So, it is time for the young to enter politics, because theories are not enough,” William told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
