Government: Jakarta Unaffected by Regional Election Law
21 September 2014 18:10 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Pros and cons about the regional elections law came to the surface in the middle of the debate about law on regional elections.
In the revision of the regional election law proposed by the government, it is mentioned that the mechanism of regional elections will be conducted by parliament.
The Director General of the Interior Ministry of Regional Autonomy, Djohermansyah Djohan, said regardless the bill being passed or not, mayors and regents in Jakarta will still be selected and appointed by Jakarta Governor.
"If the Jakarta regents and mayors are directly elected, that is against the law," Djohermansyah said last Tuesday.
The reason is that Jakarta has a special autonomy law as a special area of the Capital, which is Law No. 29 Year 2007 on the Jakarta Provincial Government. Under such law, there are a number of exceptions to the norms and rules that exist in the local autonomy law.
Djohermansyah said the Law stipulates that the autonomy of Jakarta is on the same level with the provincial level. Thus, mayors and regents in Jakarta are not directly elected but are appointed by governor.
According Djohermansyah, if some people want mayors and regents in Jakarta to be directly elected directly, the law has to be amended first.
AMIRULLAH