Politicians demand more seats on Council<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Claiming to be doing tougher jobs and representing more people,
\nJakarta politicians have demanded additional seats on the City
\nCouncil from the current 85, to 100 seats, for next year's
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
\"Due to the complexity of the capital, we need more seats on
\nthe City Council. Eighty-five is not enough to serve the people
\nof Jakarta,\" councillor Agung Imam Sumanto of the largest party,
\nthe Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
\nsaid after speaking at a seminar.<\/p>\n
Agung, who is also City Council chairman, claimed that the
\ncountry's capital, Jakarta, had more complex problems compared
\nwith other areas.<\/p>\n
He also urged that the calculation of seats on the City
\nCouncil should not only be based on the city's population, about
\n8.6 million people.<\/p>\n
\"The fact is, the population reaches more than 14 million
\npeople by day,\" he added.<\/p>\n
According to Article 49 of Law 12\/2003 on General Elections, a
\nprovince with a population of 7 million to 10 million deserves 75
\nrepresentatives on the provincial representatives council (DPRD).<\/p>\n
Based on the city's permanent population, the City Council
\nshould comprise only 75 seats.<\/p>\n
The seminar, organized by the Jakarta General Elections
\nCommission (KPUD) was used by many politicians to protest the KPU
\ncalculation of City Council seats.<\/p>\n
The council consists of 11 factions, including PDI Perjuangan
\nwith 30 seats, plus the United Development Party and the National
\nMandate Party, with 13 seats each.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military (TNI)\/Police faction and Golkar Party
\nhave nine and eight seats respectively on the council. The
\nremaining 22 are occupied by six small parties.<\/p>\n
Agung's party colleague, Maringan, supported his statement,
\nsaying the population agency's data was misleading, as many
\npeople did not have an ID card.<\/p>\n
\"There are still many people who have identity cards in the
\ncity who have not been registered by the Central Statistics
\nAgency (BPS). They could total hundreds of thousands of people,\"
\nMaringan added.<\/p>\n
Several politicians from tiny parties, who attended the
\nseminar, also supported the suggestion to expand the number of
\nseats on the council.<\/p>\n
Many observers have often criticized councillors for only
\nthinking about personal and party interests, instead of the
\npeople's.<\/p>\n
Councillors rarely respond to the interests of the poor, such
\nas evicted people, who often visit the council, saying they have
\nno Jakarta ID.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/politicians-demand-more-seats-on-council-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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