Slamet Suryanto | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor of Surakarta | |
| In office 28 July 2000 – 28 July 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Imam Soetopo |
| Succeeded by | Joko Widodo |
| Member of People's Representative Council | |
| In office 1999–2000 | |
| Member of Surakarta City Council | |
| In office 1985–1990 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 November 1944 Ponorogo, Japanese Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 3 April 2018 (aged 73) Surakarta, Central Java |
Slamet Suryanto (1 November 1944 – 3 April 2018) was an Indonesian politician who served as the mayor of Surakarta.
Having been elected member of Surakarta's city council by 1985, he also served a year at the People's Representative Council before becoming mayor. He would lose his re-election to Joko Widodo, and get convicted of corruption. He died in 2018 due to stroke.
He was born in Ponorogo on 1 November 1944, during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. He later studied at Surakarta's state-funded educational institute (IKIP Negeri Surakarta), graduating in 1970. He later studied at Jakarta's National Defense Institute (Lemhanas) in 2001.[1]
He had led the Banjarsari subdistrict office of PDI-P as early as 1980, with him being elected to the city council in 1985 and becoming the party's head for the city in 1999.[1] According to F.X. Hadi Rudyatmo, Suryanto had strongly defended Megawati Sukarnoputri during a schism of the Indonesian Democratic Party.[2] Later, he was elected to the People's Representative Council in the 1999 election, though he resigned after just one year.[1]
He ran for mayor of Surakarta in 2000. Despite being a popular figure there, he could not secure an endorsement from PDI-P city councilors, with only 9 of 23 backing him (executive elections prior to 2004 were done by legislators and not through a popular vote). However, he managed to convince other members of the council, including his later-deputy J. Soeprapto, to support him, and hence secured the mayoral seat.[3]: 238
During his time as mayor, he reconstructed Surakarta's city hall, which was burnt down in 1999 by a mob following Megawati's defeat in the 1999 presidential vote.[4] He became a suspect of a corruption case in 2004 for three projects rife with fake/manipulated budgets, including the city hall's construction.[5]
In 2005, Suryanto failed to secure the endorsement of PDI-P for his reelection, who instead had supported the Joko Widodo/F.X. Hadi Rudyatmo ticket. Suryanto ran anyway, with the support of a coalition of minor parties. For this action, he was penalized by PDI-P. He lost in the election, only winning about 5 percent of votes with Widodo coming on top with around 35 percent.[6][3]: 246
After his defeat, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the city hall's graft case in January 2007.[7] Although the Supreme Court upheld the decision in July 2008, further prosecution of his cases was postponed in 2010 due to his deteriorating health.[8]
He died on 3 April 2018, at around 19:00 local time, due to stroke. He was laid in state at the Surakarta City Hall prior to him being buried in Banjarsari's Bonoloyo funeral.[1]