New council hoped to boost public participation

New council hoped to boost public participation

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has formed another
village council at each subdistrict to increase the public
participation in civic affairs at the grassroots level.

"Basically, the council does not serve as political forum, but
as partner of subdistrict chiefs in running the administration,"
deputy governor in charge of administrative affairs yesterday
Idroes said yesterday.

The new council is named Musyawarah Kelurahan or Muskel for
short.

Idroes said the new village council was formed on the basis of
the instruction of the Ministry of Home Affairs No. 11 of 1991.

Jakarta is the first province in the country to form such
councils.

"The GBHN (the Broad Guidelines of the State Policy) states
that success of development depends on the active participation
of the people. That's is the rationale behind the creation of the
forum," said Idroes.

Idroes spoke at the Shangri-la Hotel during a meeting with
2,850 members of the council from 265 subdistricts across the
city.

At the meeting each subdistrict was represented by 10 of a
total of 40 village council members.

Aside from Idroes, chief of staff of the Jakarta Military
Command Brig. Gen. Wiranto and chief of the Jakarta Prosecutor's
Office Suyoto made some presentations at the meeting, which was
aimed at "unifying the perception of the Muskel's members"

Idroes said the new council has the authority to give advice
to the subdistrict chiefs in promulgating the subdistrict's
policy or making any decision which concerns the interests of the
subdistrict population.

"Thus, any policy designed by the subdistrict chiefs which
affects the interests of the residents will become valid only
after approval from the council," said Idroes.

LKMD

As a matter of fact, at the village or subdistrict level there
is a body called "Lembaga Ketahanan Masyarakat Desa/Kelurahan"
(Village /Subdistrict Self Resilience Council), popularly known
as "LKMD/K", whose functions and authority resemble those of
Muskel.

Muskel, whose members include the village/subdistrict chief,
secretary to the village/subdistrict chief, the tokoh masyarakat
(senior citizens), chief of the subdistrict military, chief of
the subdistrict police and the Karang Taruna youth members, was
formed to help the subdistrict of village administration in
affairs related to development.

Tokoh masyarakat includes neighborhood chiefs, who are
directly chosen by the area citizens through elections.

By law, the body takes part in all phases of any development
project including the planning and supervision.

Idroes said the Muskel and LKMD/K do not compete with one
another but "complement each other, instead".

According to law, the body is independent from the authority.
In reality, however, the body is seen by some experts as the
extended hand of the authority at the village level due to the
strong government intervention.

"The difference between the two bodies is only the
subdistrict/village chiefs are obliged to involve the Muskel in
budgeting affairs," said Idroes.

Idroes said the city of 8.4 million population has a total of
106,000 Muskel members.

When contacted by the Jakarta Post Romulus Sihombing, city
councilor of the commission A on administrative affairs, said he
was not aware of the existence of the newly-established council,
nor did he know that city administration had discussed the matter
with his commission.

"I do not know its legal basis yet. As we already have the
LKMD/K, why should we have another body somewhat similar to it?"
he queried. (jsk)