Benyamin Davnie
Benyamin Davnie is an Indonesian politician who is the current mayor of South Tangerang, having served since 2021. Before being elected mayor in 2020, he was vice mayor under Airin Rachmi Diany between 2011 and 2021, and was previously a civil servant in the municipal government of Tangerang Regency.
Benyamin Davnie was born in Pandeglang Regency, West Java, on 1 September 1958. He was the child of Mugni Sastradipura and Ratnaningsih Mugni. Sastradipura served in the Indonesian Army and reached the rank of colonel. He studied at state-funded swchools in Tangerang, before He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Padjadjaran University's faculty of politics and social science.
Civil service
His career as a civil servant began as a volunteer staff, before he was appointed as a full civil servant of Tangerang Regency. He gradually rose through the ranks, becoming the district head at Ciledug, Cisoka, and Tigaraksa throughout the late 1980s and the 1990s. He was also head of public relations for the regency. He also headed a number of departments within the regency's bureaucracy.
Political career
In 2010, Benyamin ran as the running mate to Airin Rachmi Diany to become the mayor of newly formed South Tangerang. The pair was elected with 46.43% of the votes out of four candidates. The pair was sworn in on 20 April 2011. Airin and Benyamin ran for a second term in 2015, securing 59.62% of the votes. They were sworn in for their second term on 20 April 2016.
In the 2020 mayoral election, Benyamin ran as a mayoral candidate with the endorsement of Golkar, with Pilar Saga Ichsan as his running mate. The pair won 235,734 votes, defeating two other tickets. Benyamin and Pilar were sworn in on 26 April 2021. Prior to the mayoral election, he had been a member of the NasDem Party, but he left the party after he secured Golkar's endorsement in the election while Nasdem did not endorse him.