Council takes back words, agrees on Monas fencing

Ahmad Junaidi The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Despite protests from the public, the City Council gave the green light on Wednesday to the city administration's plan to build a four-kilometer-long fence encircling the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta.

The council's approval comes despite an earlier pledge to reject the plan.

The chairman of the council's Commission D for developmental affairs, Sayogo, said after a hearing with officials from the City Parks Agency that the commission supported the Rp 9 billion (about US$970,000) project, which is meant to prevent vendors and prostitutes from operating in the park.

"The project must go forward because (the funding for) it has been allocated in this year's city budget. However, we hope the administration will make further efforts to inform the public about the project," said Sayogo, who is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction.

Nine of the 11 commission members -- six from PDI Perjuangan, the largest faction in the council -- threw their weight behind the project.

One of the councillors opposed to the plan, Mukhayar from the Justice Party, said the fence would reduce the green area open to the public and would discourage people from holding rallies.

"The plan will restrict the voice of the people because the park is a popular place to hold rallies," he said.

Monas Park has long been a favorite gathering place for Jakartans, who have few other options in a city lacking in parks and open areas.

Used to host the Jakarta Fair until the 1980s, Monas Park's only function now is as a center of recreation for Jakartans.

A lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Architecture, Karnaya, also attended the hearing at the invitation of the City Parks Agency. Though he ultimately supported the project, he said he had reservations.

"I am personally disappointed with the plan, but it is a last- ditch effort to protect the park," said Karnaya, who has been a consultant to the administration for about two decades.

Karnaya said the fence was necessary to overcome Jakartans' inability to keep the 82-hectare park as clean and orderly as parks in more developed countries.

In a meeting with landscape experts from Trisakti University on Monday, the councillors supported the view that the project should be canceled.

The experts said the fence would decrease the aesthetic value of the park, impede the public's access to an open and green area, and reduce the historical and symbolical value of the park.

Fencing off Monas Park is not the first project approved by the administration to be slammed for "quieting the voice of the people".

Earlier this year, the city began a Rp 14 billion renovation of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

The renovated traffic circle, which had been a very popular location for rallies, will have a five-degree declivity and will enjoy a constant drizzle from the water fountain in its center. The new design is believed to be aimed at preventing rallies at the traffic circle.