Council hosts meeting in Puncak

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.