Samuel Kristian Lerik was an Indonesian military officer, bureaucrat, and politician who served as the Mayor of Kupang from 1986 until 2007.
Early life and education
Lerik was born in Surabaya, the capital of East Java, on 25 December 1945. He was the youngest child of L. Ch. P. Lerik and M. Lerik Laisina. He graduated from elementary school in 1957, junior high school in 1960, and senior high school in 1964. Lerik then attended the Animal Husbandry Faculty of the Udayana University, but dropped out several months later due to his interest in joining the Indonesian Army. He entered the Officer Candidate School in Cimahi after he dropped out and became a non-commissioned officer in 1965.
Military career
Lerik's first deployment in the military was in Kupang, where he became a section officer at the Wirasakti (East Nusa Tenggara) Military Resort Command. Lerik was rotated from his post two years later in 1967 and held the same position at the Belu Military District. Lerik returned to Kupang after three years and was put in command of a platoon in the city. As with other members of the armed forces at that time, Lerik joined the Golkar political organization after attending an indoctrination course held by Golkar in 1971.
After holding command of a platoon in Kupang, Lerik underwent several other assignments in Kupang until 1980. He moved to Bali that year and became an officer at the Udayana Military Regional Command. He was reassigned in 1981 and became an assistant officer for American and European affairs in the army headquarters for three years.
Speaker of the Kupang Regional People's Representative Council
Following his service in the army for two decades, Lerik became an appointee from the Armed Forces to the Kupang Regional People's Representative Council. He was elected as the council's speaker and installed on 12 August 1984. Several years before the end of his speakership, Lerik was promoted from the rank of major to lieutenant colonel on 1 April 1986. He resigned from the speaker's office following his appointment as a mayor.
Administrative Mayor of Kupang
Lerik became the administrative mayor of Kupang on 26 May 1986, replacing Messakh Amalo who had served as mayor since the city's formation in 1978. Lerik undertook several courses during this period, such as a course on national alert held by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1988 and a course on city management in 1996.
Works
Lerik's early years as administrative mayor saw him focusing on resolving the city's hygiene problem. He also took steps to improve the city's layout by constructing various monuments and statues. He also set up additional street lamps around Kupang, with emphasis around the Solor and Lahi Lai Bessi Kopam subdistrict. He instructed a mass plantation of various trees all over Kupang in order to freshen up the city's arid and dry climate.
Lerik conducted a review of the city's spatial planning legislation. He stated that most of the land which was initially intended as an open space in the city had hundreds of houses, markets, and public facilities build over it. Lerik then put forward a proposal to demolish the buildings but stated that he would observe the situation before starting the demolition process. The provincial government formed a team led by the Chairman of the Provincial Development Planning Agency S. Therik to research solutions for the problem. The team approved Lerik's plan to demolish the buildings and the process began on 4 March 1992. However, the demolition was reduced in scope to just 58 buildings that had no permits. The demolition process of a particular building, the partially finished Timor Beach Hotel, was personally led by Lerik and the regent of Kupang, Paul Lawarihi.
Despite the development during his term as administrative mayor, Lerik still failed to resolve water shortage, a problem that has plagued the city since its formation. Although the city has an abundant supply of water during rainfall, water supply often declined sharply during the dry season. As a result of this, the city often experienced clean water crises, with one of the worst occurring during Lerik's term from September to November 1990.