Little to celebrate as Jakarta b-day nears

Damar Harsanto, Abdul Khalik and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

June and July is a traditionally merry time in Jakarta, with all kinds of attractions and events organized to celebrate the capital's anniversary.

Chief among these events if the Jakarta Great Sale, which begins next week, and the Jakarta Fair, which was recently opened.

Yet the traffic is still hopeless, garbage clogs the rivers and access to public services is still largely determined by who you know and how much you can pay.

Experts, meanwhile, are divided over whether Jakartans would benefit from direct elections similar to those taking place for the first time across the country in regencies and municipalities.

Political analysts Indria Samego and Smita Notosusanto share the view that Jakarta, which celebrates its 478th anniversary on Wednesday, should be made more democratic.

"Public services would be expected to be much improved (with direct elections) because the fates of mayors and regents would not be decided by the governor, but by the people," Indria said.

Jakartans would also have more control over officials through local legislative bodies, he said.

In a recent survey of Jakarta residents by the Indonesian Institute for Civil Society, the majority of respondents said they felt discriminated against when trying to access public services. The respondents said they were guaranteed to receive necessary services only if they knew an official or could pay money.

However, urban planning expert Yayat Supriatna warned that directly elected mayors would become overly powerful "little kings". He said an integrated policy to develop the metropolis and deal with chronic problems like flooding was more urgent than direct elections.

Sociologist Imam Prasodjo said foreigners and residents did not judge Jakarta by how many skyscrapers and malls the city had, but rather by its public facilities, including roads, pedestrian walkways and parks.

"Residents and visitors want to walk safely on the streets and enjoy public spaces. We would like to play with our children in the open air and in shady places," Imam said.

Jakartans will be able to directly elect their governor for the first time in 2007, after Governor Sutiyoso completes his second term. The law on regional administrations stipulates that governors, regents and mayors are to be directly elected beginning in 2002, when the law came into effect.

The law on Jakarta's status as a special territory, passed in 1999, gives the governor the power to appoint mayors and the regent of Kepulauan Seribu regency.

Councillor Achmad Suaidy, who said councillors were lobbying the House of Representatives to amend the 1999 law to allow for directly elected mayors and regents, said the city's bureaucrats benefited from the current system and were thus resistant to any efforts to make the capital more democratic and more accountable to its 12 million residents.

"They control all activities starting from the subdistrict to municipal/regency levels. If decentralization was approved, they would lose a lot of power," Suaidy said.

While agreeing that Jakarta could do more to improve public services, education expert Arif Rahman criticized Jakartans for failing to participate in many of the city administration's programs.

"Just because they are poor does not mean they have to be dirty. Residents must not, for example, just throw garbage wherever they please," he said.

Imam said first-time visitors to Jakarta "will judge Indonesia by the services at the airport, taxis and hotels, as well as public services when they do business". Jakarta, he added, "still has a long way to go to improve these services".