The Surabaya City Regional House of Representatives is the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

municipal legislature of the city of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. It has 50 members, who are elected every five years, simultaneously with the national legislative election.

History

During the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

period, Surabaya's city council was established on 1 April 1906 following a 1903 decentralization law. The council had 21 seats – 8 were European officials appointed by the colonial government, 7 were to be elected Europeans, 5 were appointed Native Indonesian officials, and another 3 were assigned to leaders of Chinese and

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

communities. The first members of the council were appointees, with the first election in 1909 being held for the 7 elected European legislators. The 1909 election had a registered electorate of just 1,398 Europeans (Surabaya's total population in 1905 was around 150,000), with a turnout of around 25 percent. While the council was intended to be led by the ''burgemeester'' (mayor), one would not be elected until 1916, and thus the council was led by the assistant to the Resident of Soerabaja. Together with the city councils of

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

and

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

, Surabaya's city council was the first in the Dutch East Indies to have elected women as councillors in 1938. After the end of the

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...

, Indonesian nationalists formed a 30-member "Indonesian National Committee" (''Komite Nasional Indonesia''/KNI) on 28 August 1945, with as chairman. The KNI only lasted for several months, until the Indonesian government in Surabaya escaped the city following the Battle of Surabaya. After Surabaya returned to Indonesian control after the handover of sovereignty, a Provisional Regional House of Representatives (''Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Sementara''/DPRDS) was formed on 4 December 1950 and its appointed members sworn in on 7 December 1950. It initially had 25 members, but this was later increased to 30. The first Indonesian election for the legislature was held in 1957, with a repeat election in February 1958. The Indonesian Communist Party won 17 out of 35 seats in the council after the elections. The next election would be held in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, after the

transition to the New Order Transition or transitional may refer to: Mathematics, science, and technology Biology * Transition (genetics), a point mutation that changes a purine nucleotide to another purine (A ↔ G) or a pyrimidine nucleotide to another pyrimidine (C ↔ ...

, electing 33 legislators in addition to 6 armed forces representatives. The legislature was based from the Resident's office until 1923, when it moved to a purpose-built city hall. It would remain there until 2020, when the legislature moved to a new building next to the city hall.

Composition

As of the 2024 election, the council has 50 elected members, with 5 electoral districts. The current speaker is of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, holding the position since 24 August 2019.

References

{{reflist Surabaya City Regional Houses of Representatives in Indonesia Government agencies established in 1906 Politics of East Java