Bianpoen finds Jakarta is getting worse

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): The 71-year old scholar Bianpoen felt bitter and desperate when he saw his beloved city of Jakarta inundated by water last week.

"I have never experienced such a bad situation. Jakarta is presently in a dilapidated condition. We should be ashamed to see that our capital city is chaotic," lamented Bianpoen, an expert in urban planning and the environment at the University of Indonesia.

For most Jakartans, flooding is a daily occurrence in the wet season. When the rains pour on Jakarta, unquestionably most of the city's streets are filled with dirty water and terrible traffic congestion, while piles of garbage and stinking odors follow suit.

"This is not about rains or water drainage systems which do not work properly; rather it is about poor city planning by an ineffective city administration," said Bianpoen, an avid urbanist.

Born in Mojokerto, East Java, in l930, Bianpoen graduated from the University of Technology, Hanover in Germany in l961. He took his degree as doctor of economic sciences from Erasmus Universiteit, Rotterdam in the Netherlands in l983 where he wrote his doctoral thesis entitled Research and Development for Urban Management, Case-study Jakarta.

His professional career started in l961 when he joined the City Planning Office of Hanover in Germany.

He returned to Indonesia in l962 and became a lecturer of architecture at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

From l963 to l986, Bianpoen served as an expert staff member for city planning at the Jakarta administration and the director of the Jakarta Research Center for Urban and Environmental Planning and Development.

He is now a lecturer in urban environment, culture, architecture and cities at the University of Indonesia's post- graduate study. He also teaches architectural design at Universitas Pelita Harapan.

Serving as an urban planning expert at the Jakarta government agency for more than 20 years made him understand how difficult it was to convince the city authority to properly implement a well-planned system and to abide by the existing city's master plan for the good of the city and its society.

Bianpoen said it is impossible to have a coherent, let alone beautiful city, without ideas and vision.

He believes that the present Jakarta administration -- the governor, his staff and the city council -- posses no vision at all about how to create Jakarta as livable city.

They are busy building shopping malls, business centers, luxurious housing complexes and other unnecessary things, he said. The city government and city councillors are competing with each other to get the best facilities -- official cars, housing and allowances.

Self-interest

"Why don't they think of improving public transport and road facilities which are now very bad, and low-income housing rather than thinking of their own interests?" Bianpoen angrily asserted.

"In my opinion only Ali Sadikin had a good vision of how the city should be," Bianpoen judged. During his term, he said, Jakarta was developed into one of the most prestigious cities in Asia. The building of cultural venues like Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center, youth centers and also public schools were all Ali's main priority as well as business centers. He transformed the old Jakarta into a metropolitan city.

"Of course, he also had shortcomings. He moved too fast while many of his staff could not keep up with his pace. He also prevented outsiders from coming to the city, which was in fact a violation of human rights," said the grandfather of three.

But, at least, Jakarta could be proud. "Ali succeeded in creating a respected city administration, that was one of his important legacies," Bianpoen said.

Unfortunately, his successors could not continue Ali's development programs probably because they did not share a similar vision and capability to turn them into actions and policies.

The results were dismaying. Jakarta has been growing into a huge slum with inadequate public facilities, uncontrolled transportation systems, a high level of air pollution and higher crime rates.

"Jakarta is probably comparable to Yangon in Myanmar in terms of the city's physical condition. Don't compare Jakarta with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we have lagged behind in many ways," Bianpoen said.

Bianpoen does not see any strong force and political will from the city governor and his staff.

"The governor should not master all technical matters but he should become the driving force to improve the condition of the city," he said.

It is his staff and experts who should carry out the tasks. The city council is also responsible for preparing the legal apparatus to control any development projects carried out by the executive.

"The government and legal structures affect cities for good or ill. And the quality of urban design has something to do with the government," Bianpoen said.

He went on to say that actually we cannot expect any governor to dramatically improve the condition of a city during his term of office which spans only around five years.

"What can you do in five years? Every governor wants to stamp his mark which is always one that has commercial priorities but destroys the master plan and the environment," he said.

The most important thing is to create good and honest governance and solid legal system. "It is the government staff, experts and the city councillors who actually play important roles in the implementation of any policy," Bianpoen argued.

Based on his experience in serving a number of governors, Bianpoen arrived at the conclusion that honest and capable staff are much more significant than a one-man show or weak-willed governor.

"There was a governor who was not so 'smart' but was willing to hear advice from his subordinates and experts. Another governor was too haughty to accept ideas," he remembered.

Bianpoen said planning a city is not solely the responsibility of the government. It also incorporates the community, private sectors, non-government agencies and related parties.

"If we (academicians and scholars) criticize them, it is for the good of Jakarta and its society," he said.

The government, he said, should not be blind and deaf to criticism but should have strong conviction about a vision that is ideal for future generations, and maintain the crux of a program that is aimed at carrying out city development in an integrated and visionary way.