Romi Herton (19 April 1965 - 28 September 2017) was an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the mayor of Palembang. He served actively between 2013 and 2014, and remained formally a mayor until 2015 when he was removed from his post. Before becoming mayor, he had been the deputy mayor for five years. Born in

Lampung Lampung ( Lampung: ), officially the Province of Lampung ( id, Provinsi Lampung) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and ...

, Herton was a member of

PDI-P The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...

. In 2015, he was sentenced to six years in prison for bribing Akil Mochtar in an electoral dispute. He died due to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

during his sentence.

Background

Romi Herton was born in the city of

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

on 19 April 1965. He is married to Masyito, and the couple has four children. After Herton's tenure, his sister Fitrianti Agustinda would become the deputy mayor of Palembang.

Career

Herton started his career as a civil servant for the

South Sumatra South Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Selatan) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southeast of the island of Sumatra, The province spans and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 Census. The capital of the province is Palembang. The prov ...

provincial government. He later resigned and became a businessman, operating fuel stations among other businesses. Entering politics in 2008, he ran as the running mate to Eddy Santana Putra in Palembang's 2008 mayoral election, winning the four-candidate race. After five years, he ran as mayor in the 2013 election with

Harnojoyo Harnojoyo ( mononymic; born September 18, 1967) is an Indonesian politician of the Democratic Party who is the current mayor of Palembang, South Sumatra. He was elevated into office following the arrest of his predecessor Romi Herton for bribery. ...

as his running mate. Following the election, the

General Elections Commission The General Elections Commission ( id, Komisi Pemilihan Umum, abbreviated as KPU) is the body that organises elections in Indonesia. Its responsibilities include deciding which parties can contest elections, organising the voting and announcing ...

declared his opponent Sarimuda the winner with him having won 316,923 votes to Herton's 316,915. Herton then went to the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, which ruled in his favor, with Herton ending up with an advantage of 23 votes. Herton was eventually sworn in as mayor by governor Alex Noerdin on 21 July 2013. Herton was also the head of

's branch in Palembang. He was made a suspect by the

Corruption Eradication Commission Corruption Eradication Commission ( id, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi), abbreviated as KPK, is an Indonesian government agency established to prevent and fight corruption in the country. Firli Bahuri, an active police general, is the current ch ...

along with his wife in June 2014 for bribing

judge Akil Mochtar in order to rule in his favor in the electoral dispute. He was sentenced to six years in prison on 9 March 2015, while his wife received a four-year sentence. Due to the investigation, he was initially deactivated from his position with his deputy

becoming acting mayor. Following his conviction, he was officially removed from his post in August 2015.

Prison and death

Herton was initially imprisoned in Bandung, but in 2017 he was moved to a prison in Bogor. On early morning, 28 September, he experienced breathing difficulties and was rushed to a hospital in

South Tangerang South Tangerang is a city in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Located on the southwestern border of Jakarta, the city forms part of the Greater Jakarta metropolitan area. It was administratively separated from Tangerang Regency on November 2 ...

, but he was declared dead upon arrival due to

. He was buried the following day in Palembang.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herton, Romi 1965 births 2017 deaths People from Metro (city) Mayors and regents of places in South Sumatra People from Palembang Indonesian politicians convicted of corruption Mayors of places in Indonesia