City administration to establish homepage
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)