Independent municipal councils urged

JAKARTA (JP): A team from the City Council working on the establishment of municipal councils suggested on Monday that military members and civil servants who are elected to the councils be required to leave their old jobs.

The head of the team, Syarifien Maloko, said if municipal council members also held posts in the military or civil service it would restrict their independence in carrying out their council duties.

"A policy on this issue will be put in the draft of the city bylaw on municipal councils and will refer to a higher regulation," Syarifien said during a plenary session of the City Council.

He was responding to objections from five factions in the City Council -- the Indonesian Military/National Police, the United Development Party, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party and the Crescent Star Party -- which were raised at a plenary session held last week.

These factions fear that elected municipal council members would not be able to remain neutral if they still held their positions in the military and the government.

"We asked the city administration to reconsider the issue," said Sudahlan, who is from the Indonesian Military/National Police faction.

Municipal councils are meant to empower people at the mayoralty level to participate in the development of their communities, as well as to control the activities of their mayoralty administrations.

The councils, which will function as consultants to the mayors, will be made up of one representative from each district in a mayoralty. Generally, each mayoralty in the city oversees eight districts. Jakarta has a total of 43 districts.

Separately, Syamsuardi Botan of the National Mandate Party faction, said each municipal council member would receive Rp 1 million (US$105) per month as "honorary remuneration".

"The money is a reward to the council members and a monitoring tool to control the performance of the municipal councils, regardless of the amount of money itself," he said.

When asked about the possibility that the money would be the main reason residents would seek election to the councils, Syamsuardi acknowledged that this could happen.

"We realize that the selection of the municipal and district councils might lead to conflicts (of interests) among residents. However, every plan has its obstacles and risks. We will proceed with the draft first (of the bylaw on the councils) and listen to every criticism and suggestion," said Syamsuardi, who is also a member of team working to establish the councils. (07/04)