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Mayors and district heads unite to reject regional elections bill

Jakarta Globe - September 11, 2014

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Jakarta – After Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama quit his party on Wednesday in fury over its support for the regional elections bill, mayors and district heads from around the country have started voicing similar objections.

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil is one of the most outspoken opponents of the bill that aims to eliminate direct elections of sub-national level executives.

On Thursday, he posted a petition letter online that was issued by the Indonesian Regional Government Association (Apkasi) and Indonesian Municipalities Association (Apeksi). In the letter, the organizations state their objections to the idea of handing the authority to choose local leaders to regional legislative councils (DPRD).

Bogor Mayor Bima Arya spread the same letter through his Twitter account: @BimaAryaS.

"The 1945 constitution says that the country's sovereignty belongs to the people. We agree that after this, we'll march to the HI traffic circle [in Central Jakarta] – district heads and mayors rejecting indirect local elections," Ridwan said during a meeting with Apkasi and Apeksi on Thursday morning, as quoted by Tribunnews.com.

However, the protest march had to be canceled due to the lack of a permit. "It's canceled. There's no permit from the police because [the demonstration schedule is] already full. They proposed to postpone until tomorrow, but we'll be gone by then," Ridwan told Metrotvnews.com.

The officials decided to protest inside the building where they met by taking pictures with protest signs. "The point is that we showed our aspirations and how we feel. We did it, even though it was indoor," Ridwan said.

Should the House of Representatives pass the controversial bill, Ridwan said earlier on Thursday that mayors and district heads would file a judicial review request with the Constitutional Court. "A survey has shown what the people really want: 75 percent rejects the bill," he told Detik.com

Poll results released this week by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) showed that 81.25 percent of respondents felt that a local leader must be elected directly by the people.

"Returning the mechanism of local elections to the DPRD is a step back for this country's democracy," Apkasi chairman Isran Noor told Detik.com. "Moreover, it's like robbing the people of their political sovereignty."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mayors-district-heads-unite-reject-regional-elections-bill/.