~ [b]Incentives and bonuses are generally meant as rewards for

~ Incentives and bonuses are generally meant as rewards for
getting a job done well, yet the current municipal government is
a resounding failure.

;JP;
ANPAk..r..

JP/7/DANIEL

Daniel Ziv
Jakarta

Jakarta's hard-working city councilors will celebrate the
pensive holy month of Ramadhan and the painful Oct. 1 fuel price
hike with a very special holiday gift. Governor Sutiyoso has just
doubled their monthly salary to a whopping Rp 50 million
(US$5,000). In case that isn't enough to fill their luxury cars
with premium fuel, they will also receive a Rp 1.5 million (about
US$150) bonus for every "public meeting" attended and "city
visit" conducted.

One councilor, quoted anonymously in the local press, said he
and his colleagues could each conduct up to 50 such activities
per month -- meaning Rp 75 million per month in incentives alone.
Add this to their Rp 15 million monthly housing allowance, plus
other bonuses for positions held on council committees, and it
emerges that on average Jakarta's "public servants" each take
home around Rp 150 million (about $15,000) per month.

This means they earn roughly 215 times the average local wage.
It also means they earn about as much as U.S. Vice President Dick
Cheney (though to their credit, Jakarta's councilors haven't
managed to destroy any major Middle Eastern countries just yet).

Jakarta's Chosen Few earn more than city councilors in Los
Angeles, twice as much as those of Boston, and four times as much
as the impoverished city councilors of Dallas, Texas. And that's
just their official pay. Jakarta councilors could surely teach
their American counterparts a thing or two about "making the best
out of a term in office."

What boggles the mind is not just the outrageous amounts our
councilors get paid, but that half of it is given in so-called
"incentives" to attend public meetings or conduct city visits.
Perhaps I'm missing something, but isn't that what city officials
are paid to do in the first place? It's a bit like giving a
dentist a inflated salary just for existing, then paying him or
her all over again for agreeing to show up at the clinic and
examine a patient's teeth.

Governor Sutiyoso -- who can certainly afford such a dentist
on his reported monthly salary of Rp200 million ($20,000) -- said
the increase was meant to "encourage councilors to concentrate on
their jobs and refrain from involvement in corruption." A
beautiful thought, except that the Governor is wielding a carrot
without a stick. If he were at all interested in eradicating
corruption he'd be punishing offenders rather than padding their
pockets in the supposed hope that an extra few thousand dollars a
month will make them suddenly uninterested in multi-billion
Rupiah kickback deals.

And here's another problem: Incentives and bonuses are
generally meant as rewards for getting a job done well, yet the
current municipal government is a resounding failure. It
administers band-aids (like the cute orange busway system that
serves a tiny percentage of Jakarta's yuppie commuters) to cover
the gaping wounds of a city that literally chokes on the fumes of
its own unrestrained development.

Jakarta can be fixed. Ten years ago Bangkok was headed toward
environmental disaster, until effective governance and a dash of
political and civic imagination saw the city improve in leaps and
bounds. But imagination is something Jakarta's councilors seem to
muster only when it comes to their own spectacular pay packages.

It would be an interesting (if highly hypothetical) exercise
were Jakarta to be run like the popular video game Sim City. In
it, players assume the role of mayor and must plan, administer,
maintain and improve their virtual city with precision and
accountability, against a ticking clock and with limited
resources. When crises hit -- such as floods or fires -- players
must rise to the occasion and provide immediate solutions rather
than pathetic excuses. Otherwise -- it's "Game Over."

Imagine for a moment if Jakarta's city councilors received
salaries on a Sim City basis, i.e. on actual performance,
measured by tangible indicators that reflect the state of the
city at a given moment. For instance, first indicator -- air
quality; second -- the flow of traffic; third -- people's access
to well-maintained public facilities; fourth -- availability of
low cost housing and an end to the current draconian policy of
slum evictions; fifth -- green spaces like parks and trees as a
percentage of the city's total land area; and sixth -- the speedy
completion of properly functioning flood canals.

Jakarta's councilors would begin this "game" from zero,
earning -- in true civil servant spirit -- minimum wage, or about
Rp 700,000 (US$70) per month. With every documented improvement
in the above indicators, their salaries would jump exponentially
along with the quality of life of their constituents. Thus, if
they did a great job and Jakarta became as clean and well run as
Singapore or San Diego or Sydney, the talented legislators behind
this urban success story could earn $50,000 a month and few
people would hold it against them.

But real life is nothing like Sim City. Based on past
experience, the approaching rainy season and inevitable floods
will again turn Jakarta into Swim City. And we'll all cringe in
the knowledge that if our city councilors even bother venturing
outdoors to witness the consequences of their own inaction,
they'll each receive an extra Rp 1.5 million for the noble "city
visit" gesture.

The writer is author of Jakarta Inside Out and Bangkok Inside
Out (Equinox Publishing) and was founding editor of Djakarta! --
The City Life Magazine.