ABRI role in city must be reduced

JAKARTA (JP): Senior city officials -- including those with a military background -- councilors and an NGO activist have joined the chorus on the plan to reduce the size of the Armed Forces (ABRI) representation in the Jakarta administration.

Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, they hailed the plan, calling it a good path toward creating fair competition among the city officials which, in turn, could create better work performance.

A civilian who is deputy head of a bureau said the military members posted in the city administration only hamper the professional careers of the civil servants because the ABRI personnel, smart or not, were always positioned at the top of the management of certain bureaus.

"Realizing that they won't be chosen as heads of bureaus due to the presence of the military, many frustrated civil servants are determined not to perform to their optimum level as there's no guarantee that they would be promoted even if their work was excellent," the official, who asked for anonymity, said.

"I have a similar feeling too. Having worked for about 10 years here, I think it's quite suitable for me to be head of this bureau.

"But Governor Sutiyoso has chosen someone else from the armed forces for the position," he said.

Like many of the 27 governors in the country, Sutiyoso is an active three-star military general.

Such an unpopular but traditional procedure for the human resources development scheme at the city administration has badly affected the work performance of the civil service.

Praising the plan, councilors expressed their hopes that the new policy would entice the city's civil employees to compete in giving first-class service to the public.

"We hope the reduction of the number of military officials in the Jakarta administration might be implemented soon. The sooner, the better,"

Sharing the idea, Zumrotin K. Susilo of the Jakarta chapter of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (Infid), however, reminded people that the greater number of civilians at the top levels of the administration is not in itself a guarantee that corruption would disappear in the city administration.

"We should not be fooled. Civilians in the top positions can be corrupt too," she said.

The plan to diminish the number of military officers was announced on Monday by Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi.

The plan, he said, was in accordance with the final results of the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly which would reduce the number of ABRI members in the Assembly by stages.

"Anybody can now chair any of the city's top management according to their capability. ABRI would no longer allocate its men to any of the posts," Kahfi explained.

Like statements of many other officials, his words, of course, are not a guarantee.

A reliable source said on Wednesday that five of the seven new top city officials to be installed next week were members of the military.

The ABRI personnel would be appointed as heads of the city land transportation agency, the city sanitary agency, the city parking agency, city's social and political affairs directorate and the civilian defense unit's provincial headquarters, the source said.

The civilians would be appointed to head the city-owned market management PD Pasar Jaya and the development finance comptroller, he added.

According to Zumrotin, who is also an executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), the ABRI members assigned to serve in the posts in the city administration would adopt their military style in carrying out their jobs.

"They do it in the military way and with power," she said.

Therefore, she added, "civilians with better experience and better educational background deserve to sit in the top positions in both executive and legislative to ensure the good running of the city."

Supporting the idea, head of the ABRI faction councilor Sumekar said: "I brought up the issue several years ago that city employees should be recruited fairly on the basis of their ability."

Heads of the city's public relations affairs Kamaludin Santos and public order office Hadi Utomo, both from the military, expressed their readiness to leave their current posts and serve back in the military.

"Since I was assigned here, I have always been ready to be removed at any time.

As an ABRI member, I should be ready to be assigned to any place by my superior," Kamaludin said.

According to the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) faction, Achmad Suaidy, the positioning of the military members in the city administration was initiated by the central government back in the late 1960s.

In the early 1960s, many important positions were held down by members of the now-banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) without the recognition of the military.

After paralyzing the party, the government then allocated the ABRI members to many top positions to prevent a similar problem arising, Suaidy said.

"However, the tradition was carried on but has to be changed now," he added. (ind/ylt)