SBY PRESIDENCY
As many governments around the world have a prime minister, the Yogyakarta special province may soon have a "prime governor".
The term may sound strange everywhere, let alone for Indonesia. But Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar has said the bill on the status of Yogyakarta says the special province will have a "prime" governor and "prime vice-governor" whose decisions will be carried out by the governor and vice-governor.
"According to the bill, the governor and vice-governor will have to seek a decision of the prime governor," Minister Akbar told newsmen at parliament house, Tuesday, on the positions of the governor and vice-governor of Yogyakarta, the administrative posts so far assumed automatically by the Sultan of Yogyakarta and the Paku Alam respectively.
The government is to submit to the House of Representatives a bill on the renewal of the special status of Yogyakarta to replace the old law, he said on the much debated issue on the position of Yogyakarta Sultan, the historical position held by the sultanate since the birth of the nation in 1945 as stipulated in a law on the specialty of the province.
The debate came up after a statement by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a cabinet meeting earlier this month in which he said that the next governor of Yogyakarta would be elected. His statement has created uproar among the people of Yogyakarta.
"There should not be a monarchy system which contradicts our Constitution or democratic values," the president said, adding that the nation "needs to find a system that represents all considerations, including the special status of Yogyakarta and the implementation of democratic values."
Akbar emphasized that the term of "specialty" of the province will be in the form of the higher position of the "prime governor" and the "prime vice-governor" because the (elected) governor and (elected) vice-governor will have to seek for decisions to them.
He added that the information received by many of the elements in public had not been clear on how the central government will give the specialty to Yogyakarta. The news reports taken by the public have been prone to being provocative and cornered the government.
The minister said that the specialty of Yogyakarta will be one which is based on a system, comprehensive, strong and solid something provided as the appreciation to the Sultan and the Paku Alam. Minister Akbar stressed that the House of Representatives has not read the bill in its entirety and deeply so that there have been minimum support to the bill.
"This is needed to be known that this is the highest form of appreciation from the government for the specialty of Yogyakarta special province," he pointed out. The most important thing is, he added, that the specialty of Yogyakarta with its Sultan and Paku Alam will be against the Constitution. The Sultan will only give consent, not consideration.
"But, if the Sultan will run for the governorship and elected, then that would even be greater," the minister said, adding that in that way the authority of "Prime Governor" would be higher.
No automatic appointment
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the government remains with its concept that the governorship of Yogyakarta must be through a democratic election process, not simply by automatic appointment as the case has been.
"We remain with the concept that Yogyakarta governor must be democratically elected despite the Sultan retains the special rights," Minister Fauzi said after delivering a keynote in a seminar jointly held by Andalas University and Deakin University of Australia, on Tuesday.
Minister Fauzi’s remarks are related to the much debated issue on the position of Yogyakarta Sultan, the historical position held by the sultanate since the birth of the nation in 1945 as stipulated in a law.
The government is to submit to the House of Representatives a bill on the renewal of the specialty status of Yogyakarta to replace this law. He added that the bill on the specialty of Yogyakarta province stipulates that the election of the governor would be done through a democratic election. But if the Sultan seeks to run for the governorship, he will have to follow the procedures.
"The democratic election for the governorship is based on some rationalities, namely if the Sultan automatically becomes governor and he has been too old or too young (to govern), then problems may arise," Fauzi said, adding that in Law No. 22 Year 2007 on the Holding of General Elections, there are conditions for running for governorship, including the age and education.
In addition, according to the home affairs minister, if the Sultan automatically assumes governorship (because of his sultanate rights), the people of the province will lose their chance of becoming the governor. "In fact, the people of Yogya have also their rights to become the governor," Fauzi pointed out.
Commenting on the decision of Yogyakarta regional house of representatives (DPRD) taken through a plenary session on Monday that the Sultan must hold the special right to become an automatic governor of the 3.0 million-people province, Fauzi said the central government will remain to submit the concept on the democratic election for the governorship.
"Just wait what the decision of the DPR will be, whether or not it will pass the bill (into law)," the minister said.
Don’t scratch the wrong place
A legislator, Ganjar Pranowo, also told this writer on Tuesday, he was extremely dismayed by the the government’s choice of terminology, saying that the government should have not opted on introducing speculative terminologies such as "prime governor" in the case of the Yogyakarta specialty.
"The government should’ve calmed down the hot situation and not done something other way around by introducing such a speculative terminology," said Pranowo, native of Yogyakarta and politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P). Pranowo added that "prime governor" really is a fabricated term which the government should have not announced so as to avoid opposing reactions from the public.
He revealed that the government had earlier offered the status of "constitutional monarchy" which meant to contain the Sultan’s authority merely on matters related to the sultanate despite with a veto privilege.
"I’ve often said that the government would better not to scratch the place which isn’t itchy," Pranowo said, giving an idea that Yogyakarta should have been left alone with its historical privilege related to the moments when Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, father of the current Sultan, voluntarily merged his sultanate into the newly birth republic and steadfastly fought alongside it against the returning colonialism.
Article 18 point 4 of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that governors, regents and mayors are respectively the heads of the provincial, regent and city governments. They are all democratically elected leaders that get their terms of office through direct elections.
Whereas article 18B stipulates that a special status is granted to Yogyakarta, clearly recognizing some regional governments which enjoy special status, or of special characters, though remain being governed by the laws.
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