Governor Sutiyoso makes his mark on the capital

By A. Junaidi

JAKARTA (JP): Amid strong pressure that Jakarta should in future be led by a Betawi (native Jakartan) and increasing demand for administrative reforms, Governor Sutiyoso strove hard this year to prove his commitment to an improvement in the city administration's services.

A series of popular moves were made by Sutiyoso, a Javanese, during his second year as governor, mainly in the field of law enforcement. To illustrate his commitment to reform, he chose to quit military service in June and concentrate on his career as a government official.

Some of his maneuvers to uphold the law were clearing the city's streets of becak (pedicab), declaring war on drugs and eradicating gambling activities, prostitution and corruption.

In May, Sutiyoso upheld a 1988 bylaw on public order that prohibits becak from operating in the city, saying that Jakarta was a pedicab-free area. This was after he retracted a statement he made last year that granted owners and drivers of the three- wheeled manually operated vehicle the right to operate on the city's streets to earn a living during the prolonged economic crisis.

After their numbers increased significantly and Sutiyoso had made his statement nullifying their right to operate, the governor ordered city public order officials to conduct raids to clear the streets of pedicabs.

Disappointed with Sutiyoso's controversial decision, some 5,000 pedicab drivers, led by Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), staged a protest in front of the City Council on Nov. 9, demanding the revocation of the bylaw.

When the large number of protesters realized Sutiyoso was not going to change his mind, the pedicab owners and drivers then appealed to President Abdurrahman Wahid.

In a UPC-organized gathering on Nov. 20, some 10,000 city's poor residents, including becak drivers, challenged President Abdurrahman's position in the controversy.

Instead of favoring the drivers, Abdurrahman, who is better known as Gus Dur, supported the city administration's move to clear the city's streets of becak, saying that working as a becak driver was such hard work as to be inhumane.

"We cannot let becak drivers continue their operations here as they've been working like horses," Gus Dur said in the gathering, which was also attended by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Sutiyoso.

"Jakarta is the capital city. It's not supposed to have becak on its streets anymore."

Securing the President's support, Sutiyoso announced five days later a 100-day deadline for pedicab clearance in the city.

Drugs

One of Sutiyoso's most popular policies was his ambitious campaign to eradicate drug abuse and trafficking in the city.

The governor declared in August war on drug traffickers, following reports that some elementary school students in Tanah Abang district, Central Jakarta, had taken drugs.

"Those in the drug ring should be punished. This nation could be destroyed by drugs if they (traffickers) start selling them to elementary school pupils," the retired Army lieutenant general said.

Sutiyoso hailed residents of Kampung Bali subdistrict in Tanah Abang for their capture of alleged drug dealers in September, although the suspects were later released by the police due to a lack of evidence.

The antidrug campaign then spread to other districts across the city with the support of non-governmental organizations, including People Against Drugs (Geram) led by musical concert promoter Sofyan Ali and the Anti-Narcotics National Movement (Granat), led by noted lawyer Henry Yosodiningrat.

The governor repeatedly asked other law-enforcement institutions, such as the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office and the courts, to demand and impose severe sentences on people convicted of drug offenses. He even suggested in November that the country follow the lead of its neighbors Malaysia and Singapore in imposing the death penalty.

Gambling

Various types of gambling have mushroomed in the city since the economic crisis hit the country in mid-1997. Many people have voiced concern about the spreading of togel (illegal lotteries), which have become popular among the financially disadvantaged.

Besides togel, many nightlife establishments have been accused of regularly running gambling activities. Some hotels have also been suspected of being used as arenas for gambling.

While acknowledging that totally eliminating gambling here would be a near to impossible task, Sutiyoso suggested that a centralized gambling should be considered as an alternative.

He proposed in November that Panjang island in Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands) marine resort in North Jakarta be used as a gambling arena since the island was unoccupied.

The idea won the support of Ali Sadikin, who was the Jakarta governor from 1966 until 1977. It was Ali who introduced centralized gambling and prostitution in the late 1960s.

However, it sparked hot public debate over the need to establish centralized gambling to reduce illegal gambling activities.

City councilors, who supported the idea, said centralized gambling could contribute to the city's revenue, while others rejected the idea outright because gambling is illegal according to the law.

Prostitution

At the end of this year, Sutiyoso introduced another policy that gained public support: the closure of the 30-year-old Kramat Tunggak brothel complex in North Jakarta on Dec. 8.

However, not everyone was happy with the closure of the red- light district, which caused the unemployment of some 1,600 prostitutes in the area. Many people now fear the prostitutes will turn to city's streets to earn a living.

The sex workers were sent to their respective hometowns after receiving three-month training in the city's social services office, including courses on makeup, catering, sewing and tailoring.

The closure of the 10.4-hectare Kramat Tunggak was also criticized by Ali Sadikin. Ali said it would not reduce prostitution here, saying: "Prostitution is still needed by people."

The fate of the former brothels complex is still unclear since a developer which had initially shown interest in developing the complex into a business site later withdrew its bid.

Sutiyoso earlier pledged that he would also close other brothel complexes, such as Kalijodo in North Jakarta, Boker in East Jakarta and Bongkaran in Central Jakarta.

The governor's lead was followed by the Central Jakarta mayoralty, which cleaned the Bongkaran red-light district in Tanah Abang of prostitutes, gamblers and owners of dimly lit kiosks on Dec. 9.

Corruption

Besides his success in ridding the city of some of its seedier establishments this year, Sutiyoso has failed considerably in eradicating corruption.

The governor, who formed a reform team due to rampant corruption in the administration in March, only managed to reveal two out of more than 100 corruption cases in the city.

City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo asked the governor in November to dissolve the reform team, which was led by deputy governor of administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi, for its failure to bring the cases to court.

Sutiyoso also failed to improve the performance of city-owned companies. Many of the companies were estimated to suffer losses this year or could not contribute to the city's revenue.

Sutiyoso repeatedly stated that he could only clear the city from its "filth" this year, while promising real development programs for the city next year.