District bodies important: Experts<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Does the city of Jakarta still need district administrations?
\nEast Jakarta Mayor Koesnan Abdul Halim thinks not, but other
\nlocal body experts disagree.<\/p>\n
Koesnan announced his findings -- part of his doctorate
\ndissertation on local body administrations -- at the State
\nUniversity of Jakarta (UNJ) last week. He argued that under the
\nexisting system, the politically appointed district heads were
\nessentially superfluous because they doing little or nothing to
\ninfluence the work of subdistrict heads; those whom he said were
\nat the real front-lines in providing services to citizens.<\/p>\n
Koesnan proposed scrapping the district level entirely, which
\nhe said would save local governments' huge amounts of money;
\nfunds which would be better allocated to subdistricts to increase
\ntheir services and performance.<\/p>\n
However, two local body experts believe district officials are
\nstill necessary, despite their poor track record of actually
\ngetting anything done.<\/p>\n
Suryono Herlambang of Tarumanagara University's Department of
\nRegional Planning suggested city administrations think of ways to
\nactively involve district heads in urban planning and other
\ndevelopment decisions.<\/p>\n
\"A district in Jakarta is quite similar (to districts in) big
\ncities in the Europe in terms of the number of residents, ranging
\nfrom 200,000 to 300,000. The relevant issue is how to make
\nofficials at the district level better prepare plans and policies
\nfor their residents,\" he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"So far, we have witnessed more top-down policies made by
\nSutiyoso's administration, which have proven too macroscopic when
\nit comes to their detailed application in the field. I think it
\nwould be much better if the administration let officials at the
\ndistrict level handle the formulation and implementation of these
\npolicies,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Suryono said the never-ending waste crisis in the city would
\nbe solved faster if waste management policies were prepared and
\ndeveloped at the district, rather than the provincial, level.<\/p>\n
Another urban planner, Yayat Supriatna of Trisakti University,
\nsaid district heads in the capital were still needed to bridge
\nthe wide gap in the coordination of programs between subdistricts
\nand municipalities.<\/p>\n
\"You can imagine how busy mayors would be if they had to
\ndirectly cope with scores of subdistricts with diverse problems
\nto solve. The idea (of abolishing districts) would likely put
\nmayors at risk of missing many (important) things because of
\ntheir huge workloads,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Jakarta has 267 subdistricts in total.<\/p>\n
Yayat said city administrations needed to develop detailed
\nwork plans and priorities for district heads to ensure they were
\ndoing their jobs.<\/p>\n
Each district head should also be made to deliver an annual
\naccountability report, he said.<\/p>\n
\"As of today, there is no clear ways for the public to measure
\nwhether a district head is performing well or not, as the
\ndistrict head is unilaterally handpicked by the governor.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/district-bodies-important-experts-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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