'City keeps people in poverty'

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration's failure to protect the public has contributed significantly to the increasing number of poor people in urban areas, an expert says.

Joe Fernandez of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy and Community Development Studies cited as an example that the authorities had failed to stop hoodlums from extorting money from street vendors.

"If the city authorities gave adequate protection to people working in the informal sector, like street vendors, such extra payments would not be necessary," Joe told a seminar on city development strategy here on Tuesday.

According to research done in 1999 along sidewalks in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, street vendors pay an average of five official and unofficial levies, totaling between Rp 4,000 and Rp 10,000 a day.

They pay taxes to the subdistrict office, levies to the city sanitation office and pay for civil security, plus they are forced to pay hoodlums protection money.

This affects their income, which results in their inability to expand their businesses or keeps them in poverty.

The phenomenon is found in nearly all cities in Indonesia, according to Joe.

"Feeling secure is a fundamental right of every citizen, therefore if the authorities cannot protect the people, it is a serious failure," he said.

Sumarsono, director for the harmonization of regional development at the home affairs ministry, shared Joe's views, saying that good governance should be a priority for the government.

"Transparency, being responsive and accountable as well as inviting public participation are elements of good governance that the government should pay attention to," he said.

With the implementation of the law on regional autonomy, the central government's function has changed from a supervisor to a facilitator which encourages people to empower themselves.

The city administration and the people should try to solve the problems themselves, he said.

He cited as an example the conflict between Jakarta and Bekasi over Jakarta disposing of its garbage at the dump in Bantar Gebang in Bekasi. "The central government acted only as a facilitator," he added.