PEKANBARU – Zulhelmi Arifin was officially appointed as Regional Secretary (Sekda) of Pekanbaru City, Thursday (13/2/2025).

The Mayor of Pekanbaru, Roni Rakhmat, officiated the inauguration at the Tenayan Raya Office Complex, in accordance with Mayoral Decree Number 294 of 2025.

In his speech, Roni Rakhmat expressed his thanks to Zarman Candra, who previously served as Daily Executive (Plh) of the Pekanbaru Regional Secretary for more than two months.

He appreciated Zarman's performance, who was considered to have carried out his duties well, even though he was faced with quite difficult government transition challenges.

"Earlier we saw the process of inaugurating the Acting Regional Secretary. We would also like to thank Regional Secretary Zarman Candra who has accompanied us for approximately two months, from mid-December until today. His job was not easy, entering a transition period where the condition of the City Government at that time was not in a good condition, but the process was able to be completed, although there were several shortcomings," said Roni today.

Furthermore, Roni emphasized that Zulhelmi Arifin, who is familiarly called Ami, has a big task ahead. One of them is to speed up the assessment process for the appointment of a definitive Regional Secretary.

"We congratulate our younger sister, Ami, on becoming Regional Secretary today. Of course
there are many tasks that must be prepared, there is a lot of duties. The first thing is perhaps how the assessment process for Regional Secretary can be made as quickly as possible," he added.

The appointment of Zulhelmi Arifin as Regional Secretary, said Roni, had gone through various stages, including proposals from the elected mayor and the governor of Riau.

He is also optimistic that Zulhelmi, who has been involved in the Pekanbaru government for a long time, can carry out his duties well.

"The process of appointing Ami is also not without basis. There are several processes that
must be gone through, including proposals from the mayor, including proposals from the
elected mayor and also from the Governor of Riau, so that these stages have been passed and
today the inauguration will take place," he said.
He also hopes that Zulhelmi can quickly adapt to new duties and responsibilities.

"The first thing is of course to adapt immediately, but Ami is an old man, of course he already knows the character of Pekanbaru City by heart, and we are sure that our little brother can carry out his duties as well as possible," he concluded.

Author: Dini Rahmadanti
Editor: M Iqbal