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Deputy governor vote to go ahead despite virus crisis
The City Council will proceed with a plan to select a deputy for Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Monday despite an extension of the city’s COVID-19 state of emergency
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he City Council will proceed with a plan to select a deputy for Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Monday despite an extension of the city’s COVID-19 state of emergency.
The council’s selection committee previously agreed to delay the search for a deputy governor until Monday, after the COVID-19 emergency status in Jakarta was supposed to end on April 2. But the continued spread of the disease prompted Anies to extend the capital’s emergency status to April 19, thereby extending large-scale social restrictions — including the suspension of schools as well as office, religious and sports activities — that have been in place since March.
The selection process for Anies’ second-in-command will involve a plenary meeting that would vote between Gerindra Party politician Ahmad Riza Patria and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Nurmansyah Lubis.
“The schedule remains the same so far [for April 6],” Basri Baco, the council’s selection committee deputy chairman and a Golkar Party member, said on Friday.
The City Council held a confirmation hearing behind closed doors on Friday, during which the two candidates presented their vision and mission before councillors. The two-hour session reportedly had fewer than 20 attendees, including the committee members, one representative of each faction and the council’s leadership.
As COVID-19 continued to spread in Indonesia, the feasibility of a plenary meeting came into question, with the central government and the city administration advising against large-scale meetings.
The deputy governor seat has been left vacant since Gerindra politician Sandiaga Uno resigned to run as a vice-presidential candidate alongside Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential election.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) holds the most seats on the 106-strong council with 25, followed by Gerindra with 19 seats and the PKS with 15.
Riza, a former House of Representatives member, has said he was backed by, among other parties, the Golkar Party and the PDI-P, while Nurmansyah said he was backed by council deputy speaker Abdurrahman Suhaimi of the PKS.
Jakarta politicians, particularly supporters of Riza, have insisted that a deputy governor was needed now more than ever to help Anies handle the COVID-19 outbreak.
The council’s selection committee chairman, Farazandi of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the committee had ensured that COVID-19 precautionary measures would be properly implemented on the day of voting.
“[The plenary meeting] will be closed to the public and will be held in a sterile environment. The process will be recorded and distributed [to journalists] after the meeting,” he said.
The plenary meeting is typically attended by at least 54 councillors, as mandated by the council’s code of ethics.
“We will implement physical distancing. Only the governor, the candidates and the council’s leadership members [will be in the room]. The rest will observe from a sterile chamber and take turns casting their votes,” Farazandi said.
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“The councillors should stop talking about the deputy governor [vote] and instead start discussing the reallocation of the city budget for COVID-19 measures.”
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The country has reported 2,273 COVID-19 cases with 198 deaths as of Sunday. Jakarta is the hardest-hit province, with 1,125 confirmed cases and 95 deaths.
Despite the decision by majority approval to hold the plenary meeting as scheduled, some councillors have raised their objections, saying the council should focus on fighting the outbreak.
“The councillors should stop talking about the deputy governor [vote] and instead start discussing the reallocation of the city budget for COVID-19 measures,” Wibi Andrino of the NasDem Party told The Jakarta Post.
“The council leadership should have initiated an emergency meeting to summon the governor because we have to make a swift decision regarding this budget.”
A PKS councillor made a similar argument.
“We still have some time to postpone the deputy governor selection after the COVID-19 emergency status is lifted. The selection process is not as simple as only listening to a speech. It should be interactive and require more time,” PKS councillor Nasrullah said in a written statement.
Observers have repeatedly warned the City Council against using the pandemic as justification “to speed up” the plenary meeting without keeping transparency and good governance in check.
They urged councillors to hold the confirmation hearing after the outbreak is under control to allow the standard process to take place.
“They [councillors] seem to have reasoned that a deputy is needed to help the governor [during the COVID-19 pandemic]. Urgent or not, this is political and therefore they will always find justifications,” Indonesia Political Review executive director Ujang Komarudin said.
