Perppu on regional elections ready to be issued

JAKARTA. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says that the draft of government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) designed to reinstate direct elections for regional heads had been finished.

“The Perppu has been made. Tomorrow [Thursday], I will check it again to make sure it contains no mistakes,” he said on Wednesday after meeting with several ministers, as quoted by kompas.com.

Yudhoyono, who will leave office on Oct. 20, said he would also tender the draft to the newly inaugurated members of the House of Representatives on Thursday.

He said he hoped that the new members would approve the draft, which contains 10 points needed to improve direct elections for regional heads across Indonesia.

Yudhoyono, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party, has been widely criticized after he allegedly let his lawmakers walk out of a plenary session on the regional election bill at the House of Representatives last Friday, which resulted in the reinstatement of indirect elections for regional heads.

The public has accused Yudhoyono of being the main actor behind his party’s decision to walk out. The sixth president has been labelled a “big liar” because he previously declared that he supported direct elections through a video uploaded to YouTube.

During the plenary session, the House voted to reinstate indirect elections for regional heads after lawmakers of the Democratic Party, which seemingly supported direct elections, walked out. The number of votes from the camp supporting direct elections totalled 135, far fewer than the 226 votes from the camp supporting indirect elections. Democratic Party lawmakers walked out apparently because 10 points of improvement on direct elections that they had proposed were rejected during the plenary session.

The president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-led camp supporting direct elections consisted of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Hanura Party. Meanwhile, the losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto-led camp supporting indirect elections consisted of the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Gerindra Party.(alz)