Municipal discipline needed for more livable city

The Jakarta Post's Dewi Santoso and Primastuti Handayani recently spoke with Gordon Benton, an urban planner with the Lippo Karawaci housing estate in Tangerang, west of Jakarta, on the secrets behind the success of the estate and his advice on how to manage a town.

Question: You have been a senior technical adviser to Lippo Karawaci for over 10 years. What, in your opinion, makes the town as successful as it is?

Answer: It's the community discipline that we try to create here; that is respect for the rules, for your neighbors and for the community that you are in.

What we try to create here is a place where we have rules, very modest rules, where people have to behave in a community- minded way.

We have low walls; no walls more than two meters high, which allows fresh air and the sun in, which is healthier.

This also means that we have an invisible community watch, so that we can see what's happening. You'll feel that you're part of the community, and we have a very very good record on safety and security.

We also have zero tolerance for mosquitoes, meaning we have to keep our gardens free of still water, no gutters in our houses, and we don't allow mosquitoes to breed.

We also try to reduce vehicle speeds on the roads, which is not easy. We try to appeal to the conscience of residents, to their intelligence, to their own ultimate safety, because a child can be killed and that child can be yours.

We approach the community and we just say, "You have to behave. And if you don't, we will penalize you. Town management will penalize you, take you off the streets for one year and we'll fine you and all the fines go to charity."

This is nothing to do with the police. If the police come in they can deal with the police, but they deal with us because we're determined to have safety here.

What do you think should be done in Jakarta to get it on the same track as Lippo Karawaci?

You have to have rules. A city is different from a village. In the city you have to follow some rules.

We have a census every two years here in Lippo Karawaci. When we ask the people what they do not like about this town, number one is they do not like the rules. But you know, what they do like about this town is the result of the rules.

The first thing that they like about the city is the property appreciation, the investment. Fifty percent of our sales are referrals from people who live here. They are our best salespeople. So, once they come here, the people are very happy.

Second thing is security. Our responsibility as management of this town is to make the city people and village people both realize that they are interdependent, they need each other.

We need the villagers for their produce and labor, the villagers need us for work. We have 6,000 people working in the mall. We have people working in the hospital and at the golf course.

They also like the safe, comfortable streets. This means our kids can go out with their bicycles and drive around the town. Can you do that in Tangerang? Jakarta? Bandung? No, you can't because it's not our culture to allow kids outside the walls.

Children are being taken by car to school, which is only 400 yards away. That's ridiculous. They should walk. But they can only walk if it's safe. And what we're trying to do is to create the image that it's safe. My children, when they come here, we give them the map and they go on their bicycles and they go all the way around. So, it's safety.

Do you think Jakarta could use the same formula as Lippo Karawaci?

I don't know whether this will be a formula for Jakarta because to do so in Jakarta would be very difficult. But we can all sit down and use our brains to find out where the cash is coming from and what we are going to do with it.

Just remember: Do not compromise in quality, do not compromise in standard, do not compromise in your name.

We have tried very hard to reach and stay up at our very high standards.

Considering Jakarta is a very large city with a heterogeneous population, do you think it is possible for the city to implement the kinds of rules in Lippo Karawaci and have them followed?

Absolutely. New York is a very diverse city where people from all around the world live. It had the highest crime rate in the United States. But then Rudolph Giuliani came in, and the mayor put strict, firm rules to every police precinct in the city and hit them hard when accidents and crime occurred.

Every morning at 8, he would come to his office, call the chief of every police precinct and ask them about accidents or crime in each of their areas.

If the graphic was up, he would tell the police to clean up the mess or they would get fired, which they did if they could not clean up the mess.

Jakarta can do that. We're not different, we just need a different approach. Municipal discipline can be achieved in Jakarta as long as you set a target. You cannot set rules without targets. When you set a target, you'll know what you want to achieve.

Do you think Jakarta can be ruled the same way? Yes, why not? Do not underestimate Indonesia's potential. Do not patronize the people. We're not stupid. We just lack discipline, lack leadership, lack targets.

We need to be aware that we're all adults. We should treat each other like grown-ups, not like children.

Set rules and apply them strictly. That's what the city needs, good governance and a good legal system in order to have safety, security and good property appreciation.