Little to celebrate as Jakarta b-day nears

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".