5 Acting Governors Including 2 Tito Karnavian's Subordinates Are Finally Inaugurated Officially

Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian has appointed five acting governors to temporarily replace regional heads whose terms of office have expired.

From that name, there were two of his subordinates who were also appointed. They are the Director-General of Regional Autonomy (Otda) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Akmal Malik, who is the Acting Governor of West Sulawesi, and the Deputy for Management of Potential Border Areas of the National Border Management Agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Commissioner General (Ret.) Paulus Waterpauw, who is the Acting Governor of West Papua.

"I, the Minister of Home Affairs on behalf of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, officially inaugurate Dr. Al Muktabar as Acting Governor of Banten, Dr. Ridwan Djamaluddin as Acting Governor of Bangka Belitung, Dr. Hamka Hendra Noer as Acting Governor of Gorontalo, Brother Paulus Waterpauw as Acting Governor of West Papua, and Brother Akmal Malik as the Acting Governor of West Sulawesi," said Tito when inaugurating the acting governors at his office, North Medan Merdeka Street, South Jakarta.

In his remarks, Tito said these officials had gone through the applicable mechanism before being sworn in. "The process we are going through is in accordance with the existing legal rules, including Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning Regional Elections," he said.

The former National Police Chief explained that his ministry from the beginning had proposed the name of the acting regional head to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). This proposal is also not arbitrary because it has gone through a screening process and asked for input from ministries/agencies to community leaders.

"For example, West Papua, the West Papuan People's Assembly submitted names, also in Banten and others. Then we conveyed the proposal to the President and the President to hold a final assessment team session led by the President, which was attended by a number of ministers," he said.

With this procedure, Tito ensured that the appointment was carried out in a democratic manner. "Based on the results of the trial's assessment, several candidates produced by these gentlemen were selected," he said.

"It's not the president's own decision. But the TPA trial led by the president and a number of ministers, a number of institutional ministries, and this is very dynamic," added the former National Police Chief.

The term of office is only one year

Regarding the tenure of these officials, Tito said they only had one year. This means that later they can be replaced by someone else or extended.

"According to the law, the Acting position lasts or is carried out for a maximum of one year and the law states that it can be extended by the same person or a different person," he said.

It's just that the extension or replacement of this Pj must be with an evaluation mechanism. So, later on, officials are obliged to submit accountability reports to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"An evaluation mechanism will be carried out in accordance with the law and government regulations. Officials are obliged to submit an accountability report of duties every three months to the President through the Minister of Home Affairs," Tito explained.

"This is for the context of the governor. The regent, the mayor to the Minister of Home Affairs through the governor," he added.

Then what about the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta?

Tito said the inauguration of the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta as the replacement for Anies Baswedan would be carried out in October. There are three names of candidates for the Acting (Pj) Governor of DKI Jakarta to replace Anies Baswedan who are currently being screened which will then be submitted to President Jokowi in September.

"The three names were submitted to the President. The same as the one in October (DKI Jakarta) a month earlier, well, in September we will already have the names, we will submit them to the President," he said.

The criteria for the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta is a middle-high leadership official. "So he's echelon one," said Tito.

"We are still in the stage of receiving input. Whether the person concerned has a problem or not, we are profiling, whether there is a potential case or not," added Tito.

For information, 272 regional heads in Indonesia will expire in the near future. Later, they will be replaced by officials until the Regional Head Election (Pilkada) which will be held in 2024.