Council hosts meeting in Puncak

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While members of the general public have been advised to tighten their belts due to the prolonged economic crisis, city councillors and officials of the city administration are holding a two-day meeting in the resort area of Puncak, Bogor, West Java.

During the meeting, held on Monday and Tuesday, city administrators, councillors and officials are scheduled to discuss the final calculations of the 2002 city budget before its joint approval by the City Council and the city administration.

The meeting, hosted by the City Council, will be attended by the city's five mayors, the regent of Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) regency, all the heads of the city's 11 bureaus, 25 agencies, 13 technical institutions, assistants to the city's secretary, directors of the nine city-owned companies and some other high-ranking officials.

All 85 councillors, except for one who has had a stroke, are expected to attend the meeting.

Deputy chairman of City Council Chudlary Syafi'i Hazamy said that the City Council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih and City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka did not have adequate facilities for them.

Chudlary refused to give a ballpark figure of the funds allocated to hold the meeting, but stressed that it would not cost very much as the meeting was being held in Wisma Jaya Raya, a villa owned by the city administration.

"The issues being discussed require all participants to have a high level of concentration, therefore we need a conducive venue," Chudlary said on Monday.

The meeting at Puncak has become a tradition for officials and councillors.

In January, people became angry over traffic congestion caused by an entourage of city administration and city councillors who were holding a meeting in the Indah Permai Hotel in Puncak.

Local police officers subsequently ordered the organizer to move the venue to another place following complaints from local residents. Non-governmental organization (NGO) activists also protested, saying that the meeting was held outside the city to avoid public monitoring.

The Puncak meeting that caused traffic tie-ups and aimed to discuss the 2003 city budget was finally moved to City Hall.

"It is crazy. They never learn from experience, even though they were expelled by the locals early this year. It seems that the people's voice is never heard," said Azas Tigor Naiggolan of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta).

Tigor said that City Hall and City Council had adequate facilities for holding any kind of meeting.

He said city councillors did not have a sense of crisis even though they claimed to be the people's representatives.

"If they feel what is being felt by the people -- many of whom live in poverty -- then they would never have held the meeting in Puncak. The money allocated for it could have been spent on a social welfare program, which would have been more important," he added.

A similar comment came from Tubagus Haryokarbiyanto of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who said that the meeting would harm the credibility of the City Council and the city administration.

Tubagus, who is responsible for urban affairs, said many Jakartans did not trust the councillors as they were too busy enriching themselves and did not give enough attention to help change people's fate.

Last year, the city administration allocated Rp 83 billion for their budgetary meetings. This year, the budget was increased to about Rp 90 billion.