Lack of service disgruntle Jakartans

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With many civil servants failing to show up for work on the first day back after the long Idul Fitri holiday, many residents were left steaming over poor public services.

A long queue was seen on Monday in front of the telephone and water billing counters at the Jakarta central post office in Central Jakarta.

"I had to wait about 30 minutes before I could pay," said Mifta, 39, from Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Amrizal, 50, said he had no choice but to wait his turn. "I have to pay my bill today, otherwise the telephone company will cut the connection."

To make matters worse, Tiwa, a counter employee, said the computers at the post office were hanging because the server at the North Jakarta Telecommunications office was down.

Suratmo, 48, who lives in Wijaya Kusuma district in East Bekasi, said the telecommunications company disconnected customers more than a month behind in their phone payments.

"They cut my telephone connection once because I forget to pay three telephone bills. I will never do that again because it cost me more than Rp 700,000 (US$82)," said Suratmo.

The assistant manager at the water and telephone billing counters at the post office, Dian, said the counter was open until Nov. 24, the day before Idul Fitri.

She added, however, that the office forgot to inform customers that they could pay their telephone bills at the water counter.

Some customers, however, said the counters were not open ahead of the holiday.

"I came here on Nov. 24 at lunchtime but the counter was closed," said one unhappy man.

Another customer, Heni, 35, said the water counter was closed on Nov. 24, although it was announced in the newspaper that the counter would be open that day.

Another counter attendant, Mustofa, insisted that the counter was open on Nov. 24.

"We had to be open because the deadline for paying bills from city-run water company Lyonnaise Jaya was Nov. 24, while the deadline for Thames-PAM Jaya was moved forward from Nov. 25 to Nov. 21 because of the holiday," he said.

On normal days, the counters open at 8:30 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, the water billing counter had handled only 78 customers.

At the Kayu Putih subdistrict office in East Jakarta, about 20 requests to renew ID cards and six requests for marriage certificates were submitted on Monday.

The subdistrict head, Syofian Thahir, said the office was a bit slower than usual. "Maybe people think the office will still be quiet on the first day of work."

Unfortunately, foul actions also returned with the employees who made their way back to the office after the holiday. Although it was clearly written that there was no charge to make or renew ID cards, when people asked the answer was "it's up to you".

Benny, a resident of Pulomas, paid Rp 10,000 (US$1.18) to smooth the renewal of his ID card.

State Minister for Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamin discovered similar behavior when he inspected the Central Jakarta Mayoralty's Office on Monday.

He found an increase in the fee to obtain a birth certificate at the office. Isnaini, a resident who came to register her first baby, said the cost was Rp 35,000.

She said that was the fee she had to pay for her nephew's birth certificate.

The official rate is Rp 5,000.

The state minister asked the South Jakarta mayor to look into the matter.