Council says KKN remains rampant in administration

Council says KKN remains rampant in administration

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council criticized Jakarta Governor
Sutiyoso on Tuesday for his failure to clean up corruption,
collusion and nepotism practices from his administration.

Most of the Council's 11 factions said at a plenary meeting
that they were not impressed with the Governor's drive to
eliminate KKN, the Indonesian acronym for the three practices,
nor with his inconsistent policies.

The factions were commenting on Sutiyoso's annual speech
accounting for his leadership for the year ending March 31.

In his speech, read before the council on June 5, Sutiyoso
highlighted the work of the Reform Monitor and Control Team
(TP2R) which unveiled 1,364 KKN cases during the year.

Two of these cases have been settled in court, and 757 others
are being investigated.

"The figures show that the practices are rampant among city
officials," Koeswadi Soesilohardjo said when presenting the
general views of his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), the largest faction in the Council.

Soleh Rahman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) accused the
TP2R of colluding with officials suspected of KKN.

"Members of the team are not comfortable facing their old
friends, so they preferred to settle cases privately," he said.

Most factions pointed out some irregularities in the
administration's budget, particularly with regards to revenues
from parking fees and billboard advertising.

They also questioned the fate of some Rp 822.8 billion ($96.8
million) surplus from the 1989/99 budget.

Fatommy Asaari of the Golkar faction urged the Council to
exercise its right to initiate an investigation into the finances
of the administration, a right accorded under Article 19 of Law
No. 2/1999 on Regional Autonomy.

The factions highlighted some of Sutiyoso's policies which,
rather than solving problems, created new ones.

Soleh cited as an example the Governor's 1998 ruling allowing
the becak (pedicab) to operate in Jakarta's streets with the
intention of providing many jobless Jakartans with the means to
eke out a living.

Sutiyoso reversed the ruling one week later but the
controversy, and protests still linger until today.

No enforcement

Soleh said the administration had not enforced a 1999
gubernatorial ruling that requires private market developers to
allocate 20 percent of their space for small traders.

"The administration's failure has affected public orderliness
in the city with hundreds of street vendors occupying sidewalks
and streets creating public inconvenience and traffic
congestion," Koeswadi said, noting that the administration even
approved their operation on the streets in Tanah Abang district.

The PDI-Perjuangan also questioned the lack of professionalism
among administration officials, most of whom showed the mentality
and behavior characteristic of the New Order regime.

"If you, the Governor, are serious about reforms, then you
must initiate systematic and radical changes. None of these are
present in your policies," Koeswadi said at the plenary session
also attended by the Governor.

"If you were quick reforming the state apparatus, the shabu-
shabu party involving administration officials would not have
occurred," he said, referring to last week's arrest of city
officials during a drug party at a luxury hotel in South Jakarta.
(06)