Dutch interior minister questions city autonomy
Dutch interior minister questions city autonomy
JAKARTA (JP): Decentralization of the Jakarta administration
was among the topics questioned Saturday by the Interior Minister
of the Netherlands Hans F. Dijkstal.
While visiting Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, Dijkstal wanted to
know about decentralization of the Jakarta administration and the
effectiveness of the municipality's autonomy.
A municipality press release quoted Surjadi as saying that
provincial autonomy did not include defense, finance,
international relations or the judiciary.
"However delegation of central government matters are
gradually increasing in line with the capability of each
province," City Hall spokesman Soesilo Darmoadji wrote, quoting
Surjadi.
The central government delegate's its authority according to
how much money it had for development, Surjadi told Dijkstal.
Surjadi referred to the 1974 law number 5 on provincial
administration and 1990 law no. 11 on Jakarta as the country's
capital.
The 1974 law rules that governors or heads of provinces have
sole authority in their jurisdictions.
But a high ranking city official said earlier that the
influence of "too many governors in Jakarta" often hampered the
municipality's ability to make decisions. He was referring to
private and official interests.
The source, who requested anonymity, said a lack of expertise
among officials meant they could not counter these parties.
To overcome this problem, the source said, the municipality
worked with academics and professionals to plan projects. For
instance, it had a team of architects to draw up building
guidelines for on-going and planned superblock projects such as
the Sudirman Business District on Jl. Jend. Sudirman.
The guidelines would ensure that developers provided
sufficient public space.
Minister Dijkstal said Saturday the city's problems, which
Surjadi described, were somewhat similar to those in Dutch
cities.
He said the Netherlands was trying to increase development
outside cities to reduce the inequity between native Dutch
citizens and immigrant minorities.
Dijkstal said he hoped Dutch cities could help Jakarta solve
its problems through increased investment, trade and staff
exchanges.
The Minister, who is also the deputy Prime Minister, the Dutch
ambassador Paul Reitze Brouwer and experts from Leiden University
were among the group which met Surjadi. (anr)