Jakarta receives award for achievement in development

Jakarta receives award for achievement in development

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta has been named a recipient of the long
awaited Parasamya Purnakarya Nugraha, a meritorious award given
to provinces for the most outstanding achievement in development
over the past five years.

Jakarta has competed for the award along with Indonesia's 26
other provinces for 20 years.

A Presidential Decree, a copy of which was made available to
The Jakarta Post, stated that the country's capital -- which is
regarded as a province -- deserved the award for its achievements
during the Fifth Five Year Development period from April 1989 to
April 1994.

The exact date for the presentation of the award, usually done
by President Soeharto, has not yet been announced.

The award was introduced in the late 1960s by the Central
government to encourage provinces to compete in development but
Jakarta has never won it, although it has been nominated several
times as a recipient of the five-yearly award.

The previous recipients of the award include East Java,
Central Java, West Sumatra and West Java.

In the past Jakarta was not even included in the top three
provinces as runner-up for the award. It was in this last five-
year period that the overpopulated city was considered worthy of
being nominated as one of the top ten provinces.

One of several points evaluated in determining whether a
province deserves the award is how a province organizes its
administrative affairs.

Soedradjat Nataatmadja, the inspector general of the Ministry
of Home Affairs, who led the 11-member Parasamya Purnakarya
Nugraha evaluation team, earlier praised Jakarta for its
outstanding achievements in development during the past five
years.

Soedradjat cited as an example the success of Jakarta in
regreening programs through the "Plant One Million Trees
Movement", a bold program initiated last year by Governor Surjadi
Soedirdja in order to make Jakarta a garden city.

Seventy percent of the trees planted in the regreening
campaign were donated by the public.

"It is proof that amid individualistic lifestyles, Jakartans
still have a good sense of belonging to their city," Soedradjat
said.

Plus point

This "plus" point could increase Jakarta's chance of winning
the award, said Soedradjat at that time, adding that from direct
field observations, it could be concluded that the city
administration was ready to snatch the prize.

Another plus point, according to Soedradjat, is the city's
population management.

Managing a diversified, multi-ethnic population is not an easy
task, but according to the team's evaluation, Jakarta is doing a
good job.

Soedradjat also praised the City Council which, according to
him, responds to the demands of the public.

Soedradjat acknowledged, however, that the present evaluation
system limits the chances of younger, less developed provinces --
such as Irian Jaya and East Timor to win the five-yearly award
because developed provinces who have won the award, i.e. West,
Central and East Java and West Sumatra, are still allowed to take
part in the competition. (arf)