Drama No Need For Scheduling The DKI Deputy Governor Election

DKI DPRD Building (Syamsul Ma'arif / VOI)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta DPRD has postponed the election process for the Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta. This decision was made from the results of the DPRD Deliberative Council meeting through the drama of differences of opinion from various groups.

Supposedly, today, Friday 27 March, the DPRD will vote for the election of the two candidates for DKI Jakarta Deputy Governor. However, the Chairperson of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Prasetio Edi Marsudi, decided to postpone the election stage until April 6.

Deputy Chairman of Bamus DPRD Mohamad Taufik said that this decision was chosen by considering the Governor's Appeal Number 6 of 2020. It called on companies to temporarily suspend office activities for 14 days, from March 23 to April 5.

"The Bamus has set the plenary meeting for the DKI Deputy Governor to be held on April 6. There is indeed a circular from the Governor, then there is an announcement from the National Police, there continues to be an appeal from the central government. I think we have to appreciate it," said Taufik, Thursday, March 26.

Chairperson of the election committee (panlih) Farazandi Fidonasyah from the PAN Faction said, there would be an adjustment to the election mechanism which will be held on April 6. First, improving the protocol for preventing the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

First, all council members who will enter the plenary room have their body temperature measured. Then, in every corner of the room there will be a hand sanitizer.

Possibly, the process of vision and mission and question and answer which was planned to be held before the voting may be replaced by the mechanism. This process will be simplified with the help of technology.

"So, we have to simplify the series again, starting from the hours to a maximum of 2 hours," said Farazandi.

Furthermore, the decision to postpone the election process passed a series of unnecessary inter-council drama. Initially, the DKI DPRD scheduled the election for the new Deputy Governor to be held on March 23, 2020 but it was postponed due to the soaring cases of the COVID-19 virus in Jakarta.

The Deputy Governor Election Committee (panlih) then reformulated the schedule for the election of the new Deputy Governor. With the blessing of the DPRD leadership, they agreed to hold elections on Friday, March 27.

"Friday (today) the election (deputy governor of DKI Jakarta) is at 13.00 WIB. This is based on the request of the majority of factions. So the request of the majority of factions asked the leadership about the election, the leadership conveyed it to the committee, with a situation like this, the governor needs a companion," said the deputy. Basri Baco, the chairman of the Deputy Governor Committee from the Golkar faction at that time.

The drama began when the rescheduling drew criticism from other members of the DKI parliament. DPRD members from the PDIP faction consider Panlih to be imposing an election without considering the conditions of the corona virus outbreak which is increasingly widespread among members of the DKI DPRD.

"My question is simple, why are you in a hurry. You can still wait for the conditions to be controlled. Don't sacrifice the crowd, just for the issue of choosing the Deputy Governor which is not urgent. The committee members can be patient until April 5," said Syahrial, Wednesday, March 25. .

Responding to this, Deputy Chairman of the DPRD from the PAN Faction Zita Anjani admitted that he was faced with a difficult choice. Zita understands that indoor gathering activities such as the election for the Deputy Governor have the potential to transmit the COVID-19 virus.

But, on the other hand, the number of DKI people who are positively exposed to the corona virus in Indonesia continues to increase. It is not certain when there will be a downward trend in the number of patients.

"We don't know what will happen in the future, I could hit it, Mr. Speaker of the DPRD, or the Governor. Anyone is at risk. But, the government has to run. The governor needs a representative, especially now, it's even more needed," said Zita.

This drama ends until there is a decision to postpone the Jakarta Deputy Governor election process to continue on April 6. According to a political observer from Al-Azhar University, Ujang Komarudin, the DPRD does not need to present a drama of two arguments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If there is a Governor's circular stating that the activities will be effective to continue on April 5, all that remains is to follow. No drama and debate is necessary," said Ujang Sat when contacted by VOI, Thursday, March 26.

"It would be better if the DPRD should first help advise the governor about the handling of the corona virus. Aren't they also the ones who are worried about the slow handling because DKI does not have a Deputy Governor?" he said.