Little change seen in city's public service program

Little change seen in city's public service program

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ismail, 53, was not aware that his subdistrict was one of the 50
that had received Rp 1 billion (US$101,010) early this year from
the city administration in a pilot project to improve public
services in the city.

He had, however, noticed several cosmetic changes in
Neighborhood Unit 5, Community Unit 8 in Rawabunga, East Jakarta,
where he lives.

New brooms, waste carts, and rubbish scoops had been placed in
the community unit office, he said, and free food and drinks were
now available for residents who carried out monthly voluntary
work -- cleaning small drains, sports fields and other areas in
the neighborhood.

Previously, residents had to prepare their own meals before
carrying out such activities, Ismail said on Sunday.

"I just found out from you (The Jakarta Post) about the pilot
project. All I knew was that my Neighborhood Unit receives some
Rp 800,000 and several sanitation tools from subdistrict office
annually."

Elsewhere, the head of Community Unit 7, Neighborhood Unit 1
in Semanan, Kalideres, West Jakarta, 45-year-old Romli Umar,
confirmed his subdistrict had recently received Rp 1 billion from
the administration.

"I was informed about the fund when I had a meeting in the
Kalideres District Office recently. During the meeting, our
district head warned subdistrict heads that they would be jailed
if they could not manage the fund properly," Romli said.

Romli did not know, however, what the money was supposed to be
used for. All he knew was that there were many new flower pots
placed in several parts of his neighborhood. He also noted more
security guards had been hired by the subdistrict for his
community unit.

Under the project guidelines, subdistrict and district heads
are required spend Rp 1 billion to improve conditions in five
areas -- public services, public order, community health, the
environment and administrative affairs. However, each head is
allowed to set independent priorities based on the conditions of
their areas.

Next year, the administration plans to carry out the public
service improvement program in all 267 subdistricts and 44
districts in the city, although one official admitted the office
had not carried out any comprehensive evaluations of what the
money should be spent on, a necessary prerequisite for properly
monitoring the scheme.

If the administration went ahead with the program, every
subdistrict would receive Rp 1.7 billion annually, while each
district would receive Rp 4 billion.

Both Ismail and Romli said they had noticed some small changes
in their subdistricts, but had seen no marked improvements in the
many other public services district-level offices were supposed
to provide.

"I have seen no (major) changes, it's business as usual.
Officials still ask for small amounts of money from residents who
need services, like extensions to their identity cards, although
such services are free of charge based on existing regulations,"
Ismail said.

Sonar Butar Butar, 55, a resident of Kapuk subdistrict in West
Jakarta, another pilot area, said the major problems in his
neighborhood remained urgent.

"The sanitation of our neighborhood is still very bad. There
has been no money (given) for sanitation improvements from the
subdistrict office ... I also do not see any other new programs,"
said Sonar, who has lived in Neighborhood Unit 12, Community Unit
16, for about 15 years.