Makassar, NU Online
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) recommended a revision to the 2004 Regional Administration Law to stop holding direct gubernatorial polls in all 33 provinces, saying it would make provincial administrations more effective and reduce political conflicts.
The governor is not the head of an autonomous region, unlike the regent or mayor, said Ridwan Lubis, who presided over a session to discuss legal issues during a national conference of the country’s biggest Muslim organization in Makassar, South Sulawesi, last week.<>
“The governor is a representative of the central government. They hold a different position to the regent and mayor, who are administrative chiefs of autonomous regencies and cities respectively,” Ridwan was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
“[Direct gubernatorial elections] are irrelevant to the regional autonomy scheme,” he said.
NU said the proposed revision to the regional administration law should allow the President to directly elect a governor from candidates endorsed by city and regency legislative councils.
“That will strengthen the governor’s authority. They will have more power to assert their control over all regencies and cities in the province because they hold direct orders from the President,” Ridwan explained.
He said the scrapping of direct gubernatorial elections would also simplify the current regional election system, which, according to the NU, was complicated.
“Without gubernatorial elections, the government will also save huge amounts of money and reduce potential conflicts related to the polls,” he said.
There are scheduled to be 244 regional elections for governors, regents and mayors across Indonesia this year.
“Less regional elections also means less conflict,” Ridwan said. “The spirit of democracy is good, but it’s sometimes too much, thus contradicting democratic principles,” he said.
NU also recommended that the government suspend the creation of new administrative regions as many newly created regions failed to improve the welfare of local people.
“In many cases, the establishment of new regions has often been abused for power distribution among local elites, so it further impoverishes local people,” Ridwan said.
The congress also recommended the government limit the number of political parties contesting general elections.
The congress also issued a recommendation for the government to allocate at least 5 percent of state and regional budgets to healthcare programs and to stop the “liberalization and commercialization” of the education sector. (dar)
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) recommended a revision to the 2004 Regional Administration Law to stop holding direct gubernatorial polls in all 33 provinces, saying it would make provincial administrations more effective and reduce political conflicts.
The governor is not the head of an autonomous region, unlike the regent or mayor, said Ridwan Lubis, who presided over a session to discuss legal issues during a national conference of the country’s biggest Muslim organization in Makassar, South Sulawesi, last week.<>
“The governor is a representative of the central government. They hold a different position to the regent and mayor, who are administrative chiefs of autonomous regencies and cities respectively,” Ridwan was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
“[Direct gubernatorial elections] are irrelevant to the regional autonomy scheme,” he said.
NU said the proposed revision to the regional administration law should allow the President to directly elect a governor from candidates endorsed by city and regency legislative councils.
“That will strengthen the governor’s authority. They will have more power to assert their control over all regencies and cities in the province because they hold direct orders from the President,” Ridwan explained.
He said the scrapping of direct gubernatorial elections would also simplify the current regional election system, which, according to the NU, was complicated.
“Without gubernatorial elections, the government will also save huge amounts of money and reduce potential conflicts related to the polls,” he said.
There are scheduled to be 244 regional elections for governors, regents and mayors across Indonesia this year.
“Less regional elections also means less conflict,” Ridwan said. “The spirit of democracy is good, but it’s sometimes too much, thus contradicting democratic principles,” he said.
NU also recommended that the government suspend the creation of new administrative regions as many newly created regions failed to improve the welfare of local people.
“In many cases, the establishment of new regions has often been abused for power distribution among local elites, so it further impoverishes local people,” Ridwan said.
The congress also recommended the government limit the number of political parties contesting general elections.
The congress also issued a recommendation for the government to allocate at least 5 percent of state and regional budgets to healthcare programs and to stop the “liberalization and commercialization” of the education sector. (dar)
