City administration to establish homepage

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta administration intends to set up a homepage, giving members of the public, most of whom are reluctant to get in touch with city officials and employees, a chance to obtain more information about programs the administration runs, an official said on Saturday.

Deputy head of the Jakarta Development Planning Board Irsal Jamal said the homepage would consist of details of administration programs, including those which have not yet been publicly announced.

"It's our commitment that in the future the city administration will be more open and transparent," Irsal said at a seminar on the Jakarta administration held by the Jakarta chapter of the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP).

The homepage's address has not been announced yet, he said.

Irsal hoped that, besides city councilors, the public could also participate in controlling the city administration through the planned homepage.

He said that, based on a recent survey conducted by a daily, the majority of Jakartans were unwilling to get in touch with city employees.

"People think they will face only difficulty if they have to do business with city administration officials.

"This makes me sad," Irsal said.

The image of city employees has been in tatters for years, as has that of their colleagues in other provinces, due to their unprofessional services and alleged record of asking for bribes.

Irsal admitted that corruption and collusion in the administration was also due to weak control from the legislative body, the City Council.

"Now control will be improved since the city administration and the council are separate according to the new law on regional administration," he added.

In the seminar, called Improving the Control Function of the City Council, three councilors pledged to strictly control the city administration.

"We are now in the reform era. We are no longer the 'rubber stamp' of the past that we used to be for the city administration," councilor Syamsuardi Botan from the National Mandate Party (PAN) said.

Syamsuardi, who is also secretary of the council's Commission A for administrative affairs, said the commission had received 60 written complaints from the public, most of which were related to city administration staff.

"We are now working hard to process the letters," he said.

Councilor Azis Boeang of the council's Commission B for economic affairs said his commission would be more active in questioning Governor Sutiyoso on issues related to the city's budget.

"We have 11 factions in the council. They all have a right to raise questions on important issues," Azis from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said.

KIPP national chairman Mulyana W. Kusuma, who also attended the meeting, said he hoped the city administration was serious in its endeavor.

"KIPP now is also watching the process of democracy. It's our job to be a legislative watchdog," Mulyana said. (jun)