Jakarta struggles to discipline its residents
Jakarta struggles to discipline its residents
By Wahyudi M. Pratopo
JAKARTA (JP): Lax discipline among its residents seems to be
the most serious ailment the capital city suffers from.
Efforts to create a sense of public discipline have been made,
but the results are still far from encouraging.
This year, a remarkable step was taken by the administration
to stiffen discipline among all layers of society - the
nationwide discipline drive officially launched by President
Soeharto on May 20, coinciding with National Awakening Day.
Jakarta was chosen as the site for the pilot project.
Sponsored by the military, the administration announced the
discipline month in June by appealing to government officials,
military and police officers as well as the general public to
observe basic elements of discipline, including queuing, putting
litter in its proper place, obeying traffic regulations and being
punctual.
The use of the Indonesian language, especially on billboards
and names of restaurants, hotels and other businesses, was also
an objective of the discipline campaign.
Maj. Gen. Wiranto, the city military commander, "hoisted the
banner of discipline" by deploying a total of 4,000 personnel,
from June 21 onwards.
City administration officials, militarymen, police officers,
judges and prosecutors are all involved in the discipline
operation, which is still in full swing.
The result: More than 14,000 people were caught and fined for
jaywalking, littering and other violations in the initial two
months.
Street vendors, vagrants, prostitutes, drunkards and traffic
violators were netted and fined between Rp 3,000 and Rp 30,000.
The "language campaign" was pursued together with the
discipline operation.
More than 400 billboards using foreign languages, mostly
English, have been pulled down, and more than 300 names of
hotels, restaurants and housing complexes have been changed
into Indonesian.
The city public order officials have also dismantled more than
5,100 expired billboards and illegal street banners between July
and August.
Evaluations of the discipline drive were made in August and
November.
"Discipline has yet to catch on in Jakarta," was the comment
of the discipline drive 'commander', Maj. Gen. Wiranto.
A similar opinion was voiced by the Vice Governor for
Administrative Affairs, Idroes. He said the discipline campaign
had not made any significant impact to order in the city.
However, that does not spell the end for the drive at the city
administration. "To change public habits takes time," Idroes has
pointed out.
Wiranto said that the quality of human resources is related to
the level of discipline.
Therefore Wiranto mobilized 15,000 youth organization members
to join in the next discipline drive, which officially began on
Nov. 11.
The youths are expected to become pioneers and to set a good
example to the public by reminding the public to obey, among
other things, traffic regulations. "But we do not mean to make
people the objects of the discipline drive," Wiranto said.
Positive response to the drive came from Chairman of the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan. He said that
national discipline campaign is a good idea since the it will
enhance public awareness of the law.
He said simultaneous drives would be better to make discipline
more deeply engrained in public behavior.
"Sporadic and incidental programs never did any good," he
said. He cited several incidental and reactive programs,
including the massive operation against street hoodlums which was
staged after a police officer and an army general were stabbed to
death by a group of street hoodlums.
Luhut said that the discipline campaign needs a comprehensive
approach and should be backed up by adequate resources and the
necessary political will from the government.
Luhut criticized that mobilization of youth organization
members in the drive to discipline the public, saying it is prone
to abuses. "Many of the youths tend to behave arbitrarily," he
said. Some of them meted out physical punishment, which they
legally do not have the right to do, Luhut added.
He said such abuses might make the discipline drive counter-
productive.
Some people have also complained about the enforcers
themselves.
Among the protesters are students of the Indonesian Christian
University in East Jakarta. They said the discipline enforcers
have no right to punish discipline violators in any way.
Another protest was from street vendors grouped in the
Independent Vendors Communication Forum. They complained to the
National Commission of Human Rights about arbitrary treatment by
officials and discipline enforcers.
A vendor said he was hit again and again by discipline
enforcers. Another vendor said a discipline enforcer poured hot
water onto his body and asked money for his release.
Several vendors said the South Jakarta mayoralty officials
gave them nothing to eat while they were detained for three days
in the mayoralty office.
Herliyanto, who works at a private company, said that the
discipline operation did not treat violators evenhandedly. "When
I got off a bus with other passengers at an improper place, it
was only I who was charged as a discipline violator," he said.
He questioned the procedure of discipline operation since he
was not ticketed when an official took his ID card. "The official
only asked me to take my ID card at the Military District
office," he said.
Maj. Gen. Wiranto had earlier reminded the volunteers that
they have no rights to punish violators and must avoid violence
in their actions.
"Deviant members of the discipline force will be fired," he
warned.
This warning should be acted on in a strict manner so that the
discipline campaign is not tarnished by a few rogue elements. The
authorities must take stern and real action against those who
tarnish the discipline campaign.
Lawyer Luhut said that target of discipline campaign must be
all layers of society, not only street vendors, pedestrians, and
public transportation drivers and passengers, he said.
Government officials should display discipline first, he said,
since, culturally, people tend to follow their leaders. "People
need models."
Questions about the level of discipline among officials and
civil servants have long been raised.
The latest record may answer the question: Between five to
seven percent of city hall employees are tardy.