Big puncher Ali called in to rumble in city jungle

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono consulted former governor Ali Sadikin on Monday over a proposal to place Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Puncak under one ministry to boost coordination between the capital and its satellite cities.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said after the meeting that Susilo had promised to discuss the issue with the relevant authorities.

"The President has welcomed the idea and promised to follow up with in-depth discussions with relevant ministers as well as experts on the proposal," said Sutiyoso at the State Palace after a meeting with the President.

Calls have mounted for the central government to assign a special minister in charge of coordinating administrations in Greater Jakarta by establishing a single management overseeing the area, which includes Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Puncak.

The capital had a special minister to control security affairs in the city and areas bordering the capital during the leadership of the nation's founding father Sukarno.

Sutiyoso was accompanied by former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, who first floated the idea in the 1970s.

Ali, also considered to be the city's most popular governor. initiated massive infrastructure projects in the capital, the funds for which came partly from legal gambling businesses.

Sutiyoso has complained that many problems affecting areas in Greater Jakarta have remained unresolved, such as transportation, waste, housing, clean water supply and flood mitigation due to the absence of strong coordination among the administrations concerned.

"We can avoid a massive influx of 600,000 private cars every day from areas outside the city if we could construct a public transport system linking those outer suburban areas and the capital," he said Monday.

At least three million commuters from satellite cities enter the city to work every day, bringing the city's population to 12 million by day. By night, the city's population stands at nine million.

Jakarta also wants Depok and Bogor to limit construction in the upstream area to help prevent flooding in the capital and Bekasi to share a garbage dump with the operation of Bantar Gebang dump. The three cities are under the West Java province.

The capital also relies on Tangerang for its supply of clean water, which is under the Banten province.

However, the Tangerang administration has opposed the idea, arguing that the capital would benefit the most from the single management.

It fears that the implementation of a single management would undermine greater autonomy in the hands of regional administrations to handle their own regions granted under the Autonomy Law.

Sutiyoso said that in the meeting he also informed Susilo about the a master plan, which had been made during the administration of president Megawati Soekarnoputri and was now in the hands of the State Secretariat.

"By the time president Megawati ended her term, she still had not signed it. That's why we came to meet the President to inform him about the proposed master plan," he said.