City Council lacks vocal members, M. Ritonga says<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council speaker M. Ritonga lamented
\nyesterday the council lacked outspoken members courageous enough
\nto respond to people's problems and express the response
\naccurately.<\/p>\n
Ritonga said in his end-of-year evaluation most councilors
\nunderstood outspokenness, but were reluctant to be so for fear of
\nbeing recalled.<\/p>\n
Ritonga's five-year term of office ends in the middle of next
\nyear.<\/p>\n
He said the term outspoken should be clearly defined because
\ncouncilors and government officials might have their own
\nunderstanding of it.<\/p>\n
Ritonga said people usually believed outspoken councilors were
\ngood councilors.<\/p>\n
Some wanted councilors to be responsive and outspoken, but
\nother groups said being outspoken was unacceptable, he said.<\/p>\n
Political observers believe that city councilors and House of
\nRepresentatives members being outspoken, is still taboo in the
\ncurrent political climate.<\/p>\n
The recall of some House members in the past could be cited as
\nexamples.<\/p>\n
Ritonga said there must be agreement on the meaning of
\noutspoken to prevent further confusion.<\/p>\n
\"In my opinion, outspoken is being able to communicate,
\nidentify and define the problem, with objective and accurate
\ndata\".<\/p>\n
He said accurate data was very important for councilors when
\nresponding to residents' complaints. \"The data will prevent
\ncouncilors from giving groundless statements, which will not only
\nruin their credibility but also humiliate the council as an
\ninstitution,\" Ritonga said.<\/p>\n
Councilors should also be objective in handling any problems,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
He also expressed regret and surprise that many people were
\nstill not well informed about the council's stance on the
\nprovincial regulation of liquor.<\/p>\n
\"Many people still believe the decree is just a tool to
\nlegalize the distribution of alcohol. The people think the City
\nCouncil backs the spread and distribution of liquor by approving
\nthe draft bill,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Several provinces have submitted to the government draft bills
\nof decrees on the distribution of alcohol but the Ministry of
\nHome Affairs decided to re-evaluate the decrees after waves of
\nprotests accusing the government of approving the sale of liquor
\nwhich is prohibited in Islam.<\/p>\n
Ritonga said he still got many protest letters.<\/p>\n
\"The public's misperception of the new decree should be
\ncorrected because the decree itself is intended to improve the
\nprevious decree on liquor and it will control the distribution of
\nliquor better,\" Ritonga said.<\/p>\n
This year the council received 82 delegations who protested,
\nreported or asked about land and building disputes, workers'
\ndismissal and other cases this year.<\/p>\n
Of the 82 cases, 64 were solved, 11 passed on to him, five
\nwere being handled by the executives and two were being processed
\nby the relevant council commission. (ste)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-council-lacks-vocal-members-m-ritonga-says-1447893297",
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