Bima Mayor Denies Appointing Wife and Brother-in-law as Officials, Says It Is in Accordance with Procedures

Bima Mayor, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), A Rahman H Abidin. (ANTARA)

MATARAM - Bima Mayor A Rahman H Abidin denied the issue that he appointed his wife and brother-in-law as officials and confirmed that his wife's appointment was in accordance with the provisions and obtained the approval of the State Civil Service Agency (BKN).

Rahman said the inauguration of his wife, Badrah Ekawati, as the Secretary of the Bima City Health Office had gone through the applicable mechanism and obtained technical approval from the State Civil Service Agency (BKN).

"There is already a technical regulation permit from BKN. Without it we cannot carry out the inauguration, it could be frozen the regional civil servant rights," said Rahman as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 8.

He explained that his wife had been a state civil servant (ASN) for 33 years and had held the position of administrator (level III) since 2016, long before he served as Mayor of Bima.

According to Rahman, Badrah was temporarily deactivated from a structural position to a staff member after he lost the 2018 Pilkada. Therefore, the inauguration is a return to the previous position, not a promotion to a higher position.

"My wife has been in the third echelon since 2016. But because I lost the 2018 Pilkada, my wife was then appointed as a staff. My position that was previously returned, not promoted to the second echelon," he said.

He added that his wife had climbed the career ladder as an ASN, starting from staff, head of section, head of field, to returning to the position of administrator in accordance with the provisions of ASN career development.

Rahman also denied information that said he appointed his brother-in-law as an official in the Bima City Government environment.

"If you appoint your brother-in-law, there is no brother-in-law. So, if you are a brother-in-law, it is slander," he said.

He regretted the circulation of information on social media that said he appointed a number of family members without confirmation, because it was considered to create a wrong perception among the public.

"Yes, I only take the wisdom from all of these events," he said.