Councillors absent at end of term
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Members of the City Council, nominated by their parties, should be responsible to the public who have elected them. However, many have failed to perform properly during their tenure, particularly now that it is drawing to a close.
Recently, councillors have been arriving late for hearings, going home early or even skipping altogether meetings to discuss public affairs.
On Thursday's hearing between officials and councillors on the draft bylaw on population and civil registration, The Jakarta Post observed that the session had to be delayed for about an hour to achieve a quorum.
The hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. but 47 of 85 councillors took an hour to turn up. A plenary session at the City Council requires the presence of at least two-thirds of total councillors for legitimacy.
"Many councillors fail to show up on time; this has been happening repeatedly," said City Council deputy chairman Ibnu Sumantri, who presided over the session.
Before the meeting ended, many councillors had already left the room for lunch or to perform midday prayers but they did not return until it had finished.
"I called on councillors outside the room to return because the hearing would otherwise be inquorate," Ibnu said.
The hearing ended with only 20 councillors remaining inside.
Several councillors left the hearing to attend a media conference on crooked politicians at Hotel Sofyan, Central Jakarta.
Ibnu said that all factions had been told to remind their members to arrive on time for every meeting, but so far it had been to no avail.
"It's a shame there's no way to impose sanctions on them. I think they should already be mature enough to have the self- discipline to arrive for meetings on time or an awareness of how to manage their time," he moaned.
Some councillors also left a meeting between council Commission D on development affairs and the city transportation agency on Wednesday before it was concluded.
The councillors are expected to complete their terms, at the soonest, in early July, three months after the legislative elections on April 5. Each will receive Rp 25 million (US$2,976) in severance payment. Some have asked the city administration to reregister their official cars in their own names.
Local non-governmental organization Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) has criticized councillors for their failure to fight for people's interests, despite the abundant facilities and allowances they receive from the city budget.
"They perform poorly ... Their performance is nothing when compared with the facilities and allowances they have received using public money," said FITRA chairman Laode Ida.
FITRA reported that during the five-year term from 2000 to 2004, the city budget allocated a total Rp 144.252 billion for councillor salaries and allowances, or Rp 1.7 billion per councillor.
As of today, the City Council had enacted 42 city bylaws.