DPD members support city, claim people ill-informed

DPD members support city, claim people ill-informed

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members-elect threw their
weight behind Governor Sutiyoso's policies amid high hopes from
their constituents that they would side with the public.

Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, one of the four Jakarta DPD members,
blamed ill-informed residents for their failure to understand
most of policies produced by the city administration.

"I'm sure that if people understood more the policies (made by
the administration), their objections to them would be
significantly reduced," he said at City Hall on Thursday after a
closed-door meeting with Sutiyoso.

Sarwono, a former minister during the Soeharto and Abdurrahman
Wahid administrations, was accompanied by three other DPD
members: cosmetics businesswoman Mooryati Soedibyo, former
Indosat executive Marwan Batubara and radio personality Biem
Triani Benjamin. They were welcomed by Sutiyoso and his
officials, including the five Jakarta mayors.

Sarwono took the busway project, launched on Jan. 15, as an
example of people's failure to understand city policies designed
to eliminate chronic traffic woes.

"Earlier, the busway raised much public criticism, but then
they came to realize that it was good and started to demand the
administration speed up construction of the next corridor," he
said.

"Jakarta is in dire need of change, which at times causes
public opposition."

Sarwono declined to comment on criticism of the City Council
with regard to major problems in the capital, saying the council
has been gathering information on the issues concerned.

"DPD members must understand the existing urban problems.
Therefore, we briefed them, particularly on the city's plans for
the next five years ... We don't want them to clash with us when
we implement our programs," Sutiyoso said after the meeting.

He hoped the DPD members would be able to help fight for the
city's interests at central government level.

Speaking on the day-to-day operations of DPD members, Sutiyoso
promised that his administration would provide a joint
secretariat at City Hall to enable both the administration and
their constituents to contact them.

"I told City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya to provide an office for
them here."

The three-hour meeting was dominated by Sutiyoso, who provided
much information for the DPD members, most of whom had not been
involved before in governing the capital.

Sutiyoso told the DPD members of his success in maintaining
security in the capital during the 1999 general election and the
2004 legislative election.

"You know the 1999 and 2004 elections, predicted to be bloody
and marred by social unrest, ran peacefully," he said proudly,
highlighting what he thought to be his success in curbing
potential conflict in the capital.

He boasted that his "trickle-down effect" policy -- where the
haves donate basic commodities to deprived residents in the
neighborhoods -- had been effective in resisting possible social
unrest. He claimed the policy was based on what he had learned
from the 1998 May riots, which were fueled by the widening gap
between the rich and poor.