Is Jakarta ready for greater autonomy?<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
\nand T. Sima Gunawan
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Jakarta is a special city. It is the capital of Indonesia, the
\ngovernment center and also the center of industry.<\/p>\n
In fact, the official title of Jakarta is Daerah Khusus
\nIbukota Jakarta or the Special Region of the Capital of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
As a special region, Jakarta is treated as a province and
\nheaded by a governor. Jakarta is divided into five
\nmunicipalities: West, Central, East, North and South Jakarta, and
\none regency of Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) -- whose
\nstatus was upgraded from a district to a regency only a few
\nmonths ago.<\/p>\n
As far as regional autonomy is concerned, the Jakarta governor
\nis given special treatment.<\/p>\n
While Law No. 22\/1999 on Regional Autonomy significantly cuts
\nthe authority of governors and gives more authority to mayors and
\nregents, the governor of Jakarta remains powerful.<\/p>\n
Along with preferential treatment, according to the law,
\nJakarta is entitled to receive the largest amount of funding from
\nthe central government annually. This year, it received trillions
\nof rupiah, including Rp 700 million in funds allocated for
\nvarious projects.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the administration failed to manage the funds
\nproperly although the government had started to implement
\nregional autonomy.<\/p>\n
"The administration has failed to implement the law properly
\nas there are no concrete positive results," said Sudarsono M.,
\nthe home ministry's director general on regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
Things remain the same -- if not worse. There is no
\nimprovement in basic public services, such as education, public
\nhealth services, tap water, street lighting and electricity.
\nSudarsono asserted that improvement in public services was an
\nindication of proper implementation of the greater autonomy.<\/p>\n
The Bantar Gebang dispute, which blew up two weeks ago, is the
\nbest example of the administration's failure in managing its
\nresponsibility.<\/p>\n
Sudarsono, whose office arranged a meeting between the Jakarta
\nadministration and the Bekasi municipality to solve the dispute,
\ndisclosed that in terms of handling the garbage problem the
\nadministration was incompetent.<\/p>\n
"They (the administration) are technically unprepared," he
\ntold The Jakarta Post. He revealed how the top officials at the
\ncity administration were confused when asked to explain their
\nwaste management program.<\/p>\n
Instead of striving to improve public services, Governor
\nSutiyoso has repeatedly asked the government to hand over assets
\nlocated in Jakarta, which are currently managed by the central
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Among them are the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan and
\nthe now defunct airport in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, and the
\nTanjung Priok harbor in North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso also wants to manage the city toll roads, which are
\nmanaged by state-owned highway company PT Jasa Marga.<\/p>\n
Sudarsono criticized the administration's attempts to take
\nover state assets, saying that funds given by the government as
\nwell as the city revenue are sufficient to manage the city.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately a huge part of the money was spent to pay
\nspecial allowances of the governor and other city officials as
\nwell as city councillors.<\/p>\n
Jakarta is lagging behind compared to some other regions in
\nits implementation of autonomy.<\/p>\n
"The administration is quite slow in facing autonomy," said
\nSudarsono.<\/p>\n
Jakarta has even been left behind by Sragen, a small regency
\nin Central Java, which was praised by Sudarsono for its
\nimprovement in public services. The regency has delegated the
\nauthority to issue necessary permits to the subdistricts in order
\nto cut bureaucratic procedures.<\/p>\n
The administration had tried to give the impression that it
\nwas serious in the implementation of autonomy in January this
\nyear, by drafting a bylaw on the administration's organizational
\nstructure.<\/p>\n
The bylaw is expected to enable the administration to properly
\nmanage its human resources.<\/p>\n
Currently, the administration has 106,000 employees. This
\nincludes 50,000 central government employees who were handed over
\nto the city administration following the implementation of
\nautonomy this year.<\/p>\n
Actually, the administration does not need additional
\nemployees. Therefore, many of them have nothing to do but still
\nhave to receive a salary. The administration has tried
\ntransferring some of them to certain offices, but it has not
\nworked because they do not have the required skills. The fire
\nagency, for example, once complained that the new employees were
\ntoo old, while they really needed young ones who still have lots
\nof energy and can be deployed in the field.<\/p>\n
What is more important is not the management of the human
\nresources but the quality of the human resources.<\/p>\n
Human resources are indeed essential in the implementation of
\nthe autonomy as well as strong leadership.<\/p>\n
While Sudarsono asserted that the administration's human
\nresources have no vision for autonomy, the fact is that Jakarta
\nlacks strong leadership.<\/p>\n
Without the improvement in the quality of its leaders, the
\ncritics' nightmare of regional autonomy might become a reality.
\nThere could be many "little lords" who abuse their power.<\/p>\n
The City Council, which, in a way, should control the
\nadministration, tends to side with it instead of with the public.
\nThere is not much the people can hope for from the councillors.<\/p>\n
The people have no other choice but to be the administration's
\nwatchdog, otherwise, autonomy will only enable the authorities to
\nmanipulate their power and money.<\/p>",
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