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)