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.