Frans Lebu Raya

Frans Lebu Raya (18 May 1960 – 19 December 2021) was an Indonesian politician who was the 8th Governor of East Nusa Tenggara between 2008 and 2018.

Early life Raya was born on 18 May 1960 in Watoone village, a small village located on the island of Adonara in East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. He was the second son of a local peasant couple, Paulus Ola Samon and Ina Maria Wae Peka. Raya entered a local elementary school at his village at the age of four years old and completed his education at the elementary school in 1971 at the age of eleven.

Raya continued to pursue his education at the Palugodam Junior High School, a high school owned by Indonesian Democratic Party-linked political activist, Thomas Sili Mado Lamabelawa. The school was located ten kilometres away from his home village and Raya had to travel by foot alongside his friends. Raya ended his studies there three years later in 1974 and went to Kupang to study at the Kupang Higher Gymnasium until 1977.

He was nominated as a candidate for the East Nusa Tenggara's Regional People's Representative Council (local parliament) in the 1999 Indonesian legislative election. Raya was elected to the council and became the council's deputy speaker. A year later, in 2000, Raya replaced Anton Haba as the party's leader in East Nusa Tenggara. Tallo and Raya were installed as governor and deputy governor on 16 July 2003.

Although serving as deputy governor, in reality Raya handled much of the governor's duties, since Tallo's health condition had become worse towards the end of his term. Aside from his tasks as deputy governor, Raya was also active in the political party, being chosen to lead the 2005 PDI-P congress in Bali.

Governor of Nusa Tenggara

Election In early 2008, while still serving as deputy governor, Raya was nominated as the governor by his party, PDI-P. Raya picked Esthon Foenay as his running mate. Raya won the election with 37,35% of the votes. After he was announced as the winner of the election, Raya immediately visited his opponents' residences as a sign of reconciliation, stating that his opponents were "assets that must be invited to work together to develop this area".

Towards the end of his second term, Raya decided to seek re-election. Although expecting that his deputy would become his running mate for a second term, Foenay decided to nominate himself as a governor amidst political pressures from his party. Feeling disheartened, Raya then chose Deputy Regent of Central Southern Timor Regency, Benny Alexander Litelnoni. Despite being political opponents in the upcoming election, Raya and Foenay continued to work together. Raya eventually won his re-election bid with 51.25% of the vote. Raya would serve for a total of ten years and one day until he was replaced by Robert Simbolon, who served in an acting capacity, on 17 July 2018.

Anggur Merah program Raya's most popular program as governor was the Anggur Merah (translation: Red Wine) program. The program, whose acronymic title stands for Anggaran Untuk Rakyat Menuju Sejahtera (Budget for Underdeveloped Communities; literally Budget for People Towards Prosperity), was introduced on the occasion of the province's 52nd anniversary on 20 December 2010. The program, which was started in 2011, draws funds from local revenue, which amounted to 81.7 billion rupiahs. The funds were distributed to the 287 poorest villages in 287 districts. Each village that was designated for this program received 250 million. In order to ensure that the distributed funds were used correctly, Raya recruited 287 assistants to supervise the usage of the funds.

Raya's program continued to grow in size following his second term as governor. A year after his re-election, the number of villages that were designated as recipients under this program grew to 589 villages. Raya stated that he has planned so that every village received the funds this program a year before the end of his second term. The program eventually ended as expected in 2017 and the management of the Anggur Merah funds was handed over to local cooperatives in every village.

Death Raya died at the Sanglah Hospital in Bali on 19 December 2021, at the age of 61. His body was brought to Kupang the day after and was laid at the governor's office for about an hour. His body was buried at the Adonara Cemetery in a military ceremony on 22 December.

Family Raya was married to Lusia Adinda Du'a Nurak. The couple had two children, Maria Yubiliani Laetare Nurak and Karmelia Eleonoraputri Bengan Tokan.