The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Tue, August 28 2012,
A bill expected to be endorsed by the House of Representatives this week will force Sultan Hamengkubuwono X to resign from the Golkar Party if he wishes to remain governor of Yogyakarta.
“All House parties have agreed to Article 16 of the bill, which stipulates that Yogyakarta’s governor must be unaffiliated with any political party,” Abdul Malik Haramain, the lawmaker who chairs the House committee deliberating the bill, said in Jakarta on Monday.
The bill, which will also apply to Yogyakarta Vice Governor Sri Pakualam IX, stipulates that, as a condition of continuing their customary appointments as the province’s chief executives, the heads of Yogyakarta’s two monarchies must not hold positions at any state or private company that is likely to financially benefit others.
“Such a requirement is needed in order to ensure that the Sultan can lead his people, with equality,” Malik, a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said.
Several Golkar politicians have decried the bill, arguing that it violates the political rights of Hamengkubuwono.
“It’s discrimination against the rights of the Sultan,” Golkar lawmaker Firman Subagyo said.
“However, if the requirement is based on the consideration of non-partisan leadership, it must also be imposed on our future president and ministers,” he added.
Senior Golkar politician Akbar Tandjung echoed Firman’s statements, saying that democracy guaranteed the right of every person to join a political party.
Akbar said that Golkar would accede to Hamengkubuwono’s resignation for the greater good.
“The Sultan is a very important figure in Yogyakarta. He is expected to embrace all of the people, regardless of their political stance, and therefore he must be non-partisan to be able to do it,” Akbar said.
“It is not a problem for us to let him [Hamengkubuwono] go because we still have other members in the province who will help us nurture support for the 2014 legislative election,” Akbar added.
Hamengkubuwono and the Pakualam will be reappointed as the province’s chief executives in October after the House endorses the bill.
The pair inherited their gubernatorial positions from their fathers, who were directly appointed to their posts at the head of the administration by the central government in recognition of the support given by their kingdoms for the nascent republic during the War of Independence against the Dutch.
The Yogyakarta Special Status Bill, now under deliberation, was introduced by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which proposed ending the customary appointments of the revered and immensely popular governor and deputy governor.
Yudhoyono extended their appointments in October 2011, as lawmakers deliberated on the central government proposal to end the system and introduce direct elections.
All factions in the House, however, eventually rejected the election proposal, choosing to acknowledge the special status Yogyakarta was given under the Constitution.
The government eventually backed down in July.
Separately, Ari Dwipayana, a political observer from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said that the debate on Hamengkubuwono’s non-partisan status had raised the idea of introducing a similar system for all office holders.
“We must have a system that requires the president, the vice president, and all of the ministers to be free from political parties to ensure fair leadership,” Ari said.
Ari added that the President and many of his Cabinet ministers were key figures in political parties, something that he said contributed to bias when officials took stances on questions of the public interest.
“In the future, they must be required to leave their parties so that they can be critical toward officials from parties and their interests that might put the public good at stake,” he said.
di 28 aug 2012 - 7:17
