Fate of city in the hands of uncritical councillors
Fate of city in the hands of uncritical councillors
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the representatives of almost nine million people in Jakarta,
the city's 83 councillors are expected to be of excellent quality
to enable them to channel people's aspirations and to watch over
the city administration.
They are often criticized for their poor performance, and they
are not critical of the government.
In hearings with city officials, only a few councillors take
part in discussions by asking sharp questions and criticizing
unclear policies of the administration. Others just agree with
the officials' explanations.
While most city administration officials are mostly university
graduates or post graduates, many of the councillors have
inadequate and unclear educational backgrounds.
Activists have cynically questioned how the councillors could
possibly produce quality regulations, evaluate the governor's
performance or choose a good governor in the next gubernatorial
election.
Tubagus H. Kalbaryanto, head of the urban division of the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said the performance of councillors
could improve if they really listened to and heeded people's
aspirations.
"Although their education is not sufficient, it would not be a
problem if they listened to their constituents and struggled for
them. The public would respect them," Tubagus said on Friday.
Last year, almost all of the councillors took graduate and
post graduate studies in political sciences and management, which
were provided by private Tujuh Belas Agustus University and the
Jagakarsa Economic Institute. Classes were held in the evening at
the council's building on Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta.
There were 85 city councillors, but two have died.
According to the latest data from the City Council, 14 of the
councillors are only high school graduates, the basic requirement
for a city councillor.
Sixty-five councillors apparently went to university. Many of
the councillors did not state the names of the university on
their resumes, while some of them attended university but did not
graduate.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
has 29 councillors, but only 10 graduated from university. The
rest attended university but did not graduate.
Only 14 councillors from the 11 factions graduated from local
reputable universities and foreign institutions, while six
councillors finished their post graduate studies.
Four councillors studied abroad, including Abdul Aziz Mathur
of Justice Party, who went to Al Azhar University in Cairo,
Egypt, and National Mandate Party's Agus Dharmawan attended the
Christchurch Polytechnic in New Zealand.