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Jakarta may soon have deputy governor again as Gerindra, PKS call truce
Ahmad Riza Patria (JP/PJ Leo) - Nurmansyah Lubis (tribunnews
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Ahmad Riza Patria (JP/PJ Leo) - Nurmansyah Lubis (tribunnews.com)
After almost two years of getting by without one, Jakarta may soon have a deputy governor again. A new chapter was opened in the selection process when the Gerindra Party clinched back its old position after a long tug-of-war with its erstwhile ally, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Representatives of the two parties met with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Tuesday to submit the names of two prospective candidates.
The hopefuls are Gerindra executive and lawmaker Ahmad Riza Patria and PKS official Nurmansyah Lubis.
They replace two PKS politicians — Agung Yulianto and Ahmad Syaikhu — who had previously been proposed to the City Council as candidates.
The chairman of Gerindra’s executive board in Jakarta, Mohammad Taufik, and the head of the PKS faction at the City Council, Muhammad Arifin, said the two parties had reached an agreement and hoped for the city administration to soon submit the names to the City Council.
“We hope the selection process will be swift [so] that Jakarta will have a new deputy governor in the near future who can work in synergy with Pak Anies in developing the city and making the residents happy,” Arifin told reporters after the meeting.
Anies said he would immediately forward the letter to the City Council on Tuesday for the selection process to begin.
Anies refused to make further comments, saying only that he knew the two candidates personally and believed the parties had taken everything into consideration before proposing them.
He noted that the governor and deputy governor had a big public responsibility to deliver on campaign promises and implement the Jakarta Medium-Term Development Plan.
“I believe the two candidates have learned, understood the issues and are ready to carry out the programs,” Anies said.
Gerindra deputy chairman Sufmi Dasco Ahmad claimed the PKS had given its blessing to the new candidates.
“We proposed two names before, but there were some obstacles in the election process, so Gerindra took the initiative to propose four new candidates to the PKS. In the end, we agreed to propose two new candidates, Nurmansyah Lubis from the PKS and Ahmad Riza Patria from Gerindra,” Dasco said at a press conference on Monday.
Taufik, who is also the deputy speaker of the City Council, said the next step in the process was for the council to form a selection committee and decide on the time for the election. The councillors would deliberate over the names and, if no agreement on a candidate was reached, they would vote on the matter.
As the political parties endorsing Anies and former deputy governor Sandiaga Uno in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, both the PKS and Gerindra are entitled to nominate candidates for the deputy governor position, which has been vacant for more than a year since Sandiaga stepped down in August 2018 to run for vice president alongside Prabowo Subianto in last year’s presidential election.
Prabowo’s party, formerly a leading opposition party along with the PKS, joined the government coalition after the election, leaving the PKS as the sole opposition party.
The head of the PKS in Jakarta, Sakhir Purnomo, said there were several reasons for the party’s decision to propose a new deputy governor candidate.
“Personally, I don’t know what happened, but the election process for the previous candidates was deadlocked. Some people had qualms about the candidates. Then Syaikhu was reelected as a member of the House of Representatives, so he wanted to serve the people who had voted for him,” Sakhir said on Monday.
The search for Sadiaga’s replacement began in November 2018, but progress has been very slow.
Anies has complained about being overwhelmed with invitations requiring the attendance of representatives from the city administration. The slow progress also prompted a student from Tarumanegara University in West Jakarta to file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court asking the court to allow for the new Jakarta deputy governor to be elected by the public.
The student, named Michael, challenged regulations that allow political parties and the City Council to elect the new deputy governor, arguing that the process took too long.
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University political scientist Adi Prayitno said the PKS had sustained a political defeat in the battle for the deputy governor position when its previously proposed candidates were dropped.
“The new candidates from the Gerindra Party and the PKS are a form of compromise between the parties to solve the prolonged deadlock in the election process,” Adi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Adi explained that Riza had a better chance to win the election, as Gerindra wielded greater political influence since becoming part of the government.
“Riza could be a reliable partner for Anies. We can expect his experience in politics to boost the pair to achieve breakthroughs for Jakarta,” the analyst said.
Indonesia Political Review executive director Ujang Komarudin also said Riza had the upper hand, arguing that he was more popular than the PKS’ Nurmansyah.
He added that Gerindra’s position as the second-largest party in the council and the council speakership of Taufik from Gerindra were likely to help the party’s candidate win.
