Bianpoen finds Jakarta is getting worse

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.