Monas to get new management for efficiency

JAKARTA (JP): The city plans to place the National Monument and its surrounding environs under an integrated management, dissolving the current office overseeing the monument in the process, Governor Sutiyoso said yesterday.

Giving no indication when the plan would be implemented, Sutiyoso said the monument, locally called by its abbreviation Monas, would be managed by the Central Jakarta Mayoralty.

"So far, Kantor Pengelola Monas (the monument's current management) only sells entrance tickets, handles visitors and manages the monument," the governor said.

Other activities and public services at the park surrounding the monument are handled by other parties, he added.

"We, therefore, see its (the management) presence as ineffective. So, we ask the mayoralty to also manage the monument in an attempt to integrate the area's services," Sutiyoso told reporters after inspecting a monument beautification project yesterday.

Other city offices managing the park include the city's park agency, sanitation agency and public works agency.

The new plan calls for all of the agencies managing the park to be under the supervision of the mayoralty.

The head of the City Council's Commission E for social welfare affairs, Soeparmo, said the park and monument's disjointed management had made the area look as if it was neglected.

"It's difficult to look for the parties responsible if, for instance, the monument's area is dirty or its facilities are damaged.

"Each agency will point to the others for responsibility," Soeparmo said early this week.

Billed as Jakarta's chief landmark, the 132-meter-high monument -- which sports a flame on top made of 35 kilograms of gold -- is located in an 80-hectare park in the heart of the capital.

The park is surrounded by four major thoroughfares: Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur, Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat.

Numerous government buildings, including presidential and ministerial offices as well as the U.S. Embassy, face the park.

The monument and the park are popular recreational places for many Jakartans, especially on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings.

But many visitors and tourists have often complained that litter is scattered throughout the monument and surrounding grounds, which have been declared one of the city's green zones.

Sutiyoso said he hoped such public complaints would disappear once the mayoralty took over the park's management.

"I have a dream that Monas will become a popular international attraction. It has the potential," he said.

The governor did not indicate what would happen to the dozens of city employees working under the monument's current management.

When asked about Sutiyoso's plan, Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said he was ready to take on the new task.

"Each of the agencies responsible for handling the Monas area has their own branch offices in our mayoralty. So it won't be so difficult to manage them," he said. (ind)