Appeal to Governor Sutiyoso

I congratulate Sutiyoso in his capacity as Jakarta's new governor, replacing Surjadi Soedirdja whose term of office ended recently.

As a citizen of Greater Jakarta (living in Bekasi, working in Jakarta) I am very much relieved to hear Sutiyoso's promise to be a clean government official. He has even gone as far as prohibiting his relatives from obtaining special treatment from the administration in business dealings. I hope his decision will be an example for mayors, camat (district chiefs) and lurah (village chiefs) and officials of his work environment. Residents of the capital need to give their full support, otherwise the governor's work would be in vain and it would be difficult to solve the problems of his work inherited from Pak Surjadi.

In the context of inspecting the SEA Games facilities, he found many shortcomings which could not be overcome in a short time span.

Now, Governor Sutiyoso should make unannounced visits to places like bus terminals, villages, traditional markets, riverbanks and other densely populated areas; he should also observe the behavior of drivers, extortionists operating in public; and visit all types of food stalls. In this way the governor could get a lot of valuable information as input for making proposed improvements.

There is another thing that needs his attention. The rapid development of Jakarta has seen the construction of scores of high-rise buildings. Are the buildings equipped with fire- fighting equipment? I am very much impressed by Australia's aid in the form of an Airtractor AT-802 water bomber that can carry 3,000 liters of water, enough to douse fires on one hectare of land. It would be good if the Jakarta administration owned an airplane that was able to spray water or chemicals onto parts of a building that fire truck ladders cannot reached.

In conclusion I would like to express my wish that Governor Sutiyoso is given good health so as to enable him to carry out his very heavy duties and act consistently and systematically.

BASUKI

Bekasi, West Java