Council tells governor to revise city's strategic plan

Council tells governor to revise city's strategic plan

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Council factions told Governor Sutiyoso on Saturday to
revise his five-year Strategic Plan (Renstra), which they regard
as "unclear and absurd".

During a plenary session in response to Sutiyoso's plan, they
asked Sutiyoso to come up with concrete programs, because the
plan only mentioned the goals without elaborating on the methods
to achieve them.

"His Strategic Plan does not include principles of
consistency, transparency or certainty. It is absurd and a case
of top-down planning," the United Development Party's spokeswoman
Hizbiyah Rochim said.

She said her faction recommended that programs such as the
development of a mass rapid transit (MRT) system and the East
Flood Canal should have been included in the plan.

For the next five years, Sutiyoso promised to work hard and to
make great efforts to anticipate floods, but there is no
explanation in detail on how he will do that. The same is also
seen in other fields such as transportation, health and
education.

Sutiyoso vowed to improve the transportation services, medical
services and the education for the people, without sufficiently
elaborating on how he would accomplish those tasks or what
percentage of the budget would be allocated.

"The lack of detail in the Renstra will make if difficult for
us to evaluate the governor's performance," the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle's faction spokesman M. Nakoem said
in the session.

According to Government Regulation No. 108/2000 on local
administration, a newly elected governor is obliged to prepare a
five-year Strategic Plan (Renstra) for development.

The Strategic Plan, which must be approved by the council, can
be used to evaluate the performance of the governor.
Additionally, according to Regulation No.108/2000, councillors
can impeach the governor at any time if he or she fails to
implement an approved Strategic Plan.

Sutiyoso, who was reelected in September, submitted his plan
to the City Council on Tuesday.

After the council's factions presented their views on the
Strategic Plan on Saturday, Sutiyoso later this week will respond
to the general views. The councillors will have a discussion with
Sutiyoso and other administration officials before they state
their final decision on the plan by the end of the month.

In the past, the council criticized Sutiyoso's yearly budget
speeches and his accountability speech, but after further
wrangling, they later accepted them, despite some lingering
misgivings.

The National Mandate Party faction spokesman Mardjuan Bakri
suggested that the administration should include concrete
programs, such as allocating a specific and significant amount of
the budget for education.

"How much is the allocation fund for education? It is supposed
to be at least 20 percent according to the newly amended
Constitution," Mardjuan asked in the plenary session.

The recent amendment of the Constitution said at least 20
percent of the State Budget should be allocated for education
programs.

About Rp 500 billion (or 5.1 percent) of the current city
budget which amounts to Rp 9.7 trillion, was allocated for
education this year.

Separately, City Spokesman Muhayat admitted that there were no
details about the targets or the programs in the Strategic Plan,
but said that the it was still open for correction.

"If the council wants certain programs to be included in the
Renstra, it could be considered," Muhayat told reporters.