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Out with the old: Fresh faces to dominate City Council
The 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
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The 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 Jakarta) plenary meeting on Monday to finalize the councillors-elect, 59 of the 106 elected councillors 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 councillor-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 councillors-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 councillors 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.
He said that following his party’s line, he planned to advocate for budget transparency and speed up the process to elect a deputy governor, a seat left vacant since Sandiaga Uno resigned a year ago.
William received 12,295 votes in electoral district Jakarta 9, which includes Kalideres, Cengkareng and Tambora in West Jakarta.
He said he did not yet know which commission he would be stationed in at the City Council, as it was for the party to decide, although he expressed a desire to be part of Commission A overseeing governance as he said it suited his legal studies background.
The second youngest councillor-elect is Agustina Hermanto, 25, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Better known as former child star Tina Toon, Agustina’s electoral district is North Jakarta 2, which includes Kelapa Gading, Cilincing, Koja and Thousand Islands, where she garnered 19,570 votes.
Agustina said her youth was not her primary motivation to run for office. “Youth is not a criterion [for success] because everyone enters politics at different times of their life,” she told the Post.
She said that her electoral district faced myriad different problems, such as flooding and air pollution in Kelapa Gading and health, education and sanitation issues in Cilincing and Koja.
“That’s why, when I am sworn in, I want to be on Commission E overseeing people’s welfare to help communicate my constituents’ issues [to the administration],” Agustina said.
Another newcomer to the City Council is 29-year-old Zita Anjani, who hails from the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The daughter of People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker and PAN chairman Zulkifli Hasan, Zita’s primary concern is early education, having established the Kids Education preschool in Jatinegara, which is in her electoral district of Jakarta 4 that also includes Matraman, Pulogadung and Cakung in East Jakarta. She won 14,701 votes.
“That is why I want to be on Commission E, to help improve preschools and the livelihoods of preschool teachers,” Zita said.
She said another problem facing her constituents was air pollution.
“Jakarta’s budget is quite large, it could really do something about pollution,” she said.
She said she chose to run as a member of PAN because she was already familiar with some of the party’s politicians and felt the party was supportive of new politicians like her.
According to the KPU Jakarta, the PDI-P won the most seats with 25 seats, followed by the Gerindra Party with 19 seats; the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), 16 seats; the Democratic Party, 10 seats; PAN, nine seats; PSI, eight seats; the NasDem Party, seven seats; the Golkar Party, six seats; the National Awakening Party (PKB), five seats; and the United Development Party (PPP) with only one seat.
This is the first time the PSI has participated in a general election and gained seats in the City Council. However, the party failed to win enough votes to gain any seats in the House of Representatives.
The Hanura Party, which from 2014 to 2019 held 10 seats in the City Council, failed to win any seats in the 2019 election.
From 106 councillors-elect, 83, or 78.3 percent, are men, and 23, or 21.7 percent, are women, failing to meet the 30 percent gender quota.
Meanwhile, 42 councillors-elect hold undergraduate degrees; 21 hold masters degrees; four hold doctoral degrees; 24 are senior high school graduates; four hold diploma D3 degrees; and one holds a diploma D1 degree.
