'City keeps people in poverty'

'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.