Factions reject new council structure

JAKARTA (JP): Almost all party factions urged the city administration on Monday to review its proposed bylaw on a new city organizational structure with particular attention to the command line between the governor and his subordinates.

Speaking at a plenary session of the City Council, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI Perjuangan) faction suggested a chain of command from the city governor to the city secretary, agencies and offices.

"If there is no chain of command, a governor would just become symbolic. The governor would not be professional because (he or she) could not effectively control agencies and offices," the faction's spokesman, Pantas Nainggolan, said.

Pantas said a secretary should only be an administrative coordinator and should not be authorized to have a chain of command to city agencies and offices, as proposed by the bylaw.

He said his faction disagreed that the city's inspectorate should be placed under supervision of the city secretary. He said it should be placed under the governor.

"The chain of command should be fully in the hands of the governor or deputy governor," Pantas said in his faction's general view of the bylaw.

"Our faction's view is that the proposed bylaw still has many deficiencies so we have urged the city administration to review the bylaw before we discuss it further," he said.

The United Development Party (PPP)'s faction spokeswoman, Hizbiyah Rochim, supported the PDI Perjuangan faction, saying that a city secretary was only a member of staff.

"A city secretary is not a chief executive officer as proposed by the city administration. They are only an administrative chief," Hizbiyah said.

She said the proposal to delegate administrative authority from the governor to the city secretary violated Law No. 22/1999 on regional administrations, which stipulates that a city secretary is only an assistant to the governor.

The city administration earlier proposed the bylaw to the Jakarta City Council which, among other things, changes the functions of the city secretary.

The city secretary, according to the bylaw, would become like a CEO and would handle all the city's administrative and technical operations.

The bylaw stipulates that the secretary, as an administrative appointee, would be responsible to the governor, who will focus more on external and political affairs.

The proposed bylaw aims to avoid political intervention from the governor or deputy governor who are elected by the city council. (jun)