Factions reject new council structure

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)