Seeds of a civil society?

Seeds of a civil society?

In the beginning there was the idea to involve the community
in the day-to-day governance of the city. By so doing, the
Jakarta city administration would be able to free its hands of
the management of practical minor matters such as road and
drainage maintenance and garbage collection to those who stood to
benefit from the endeavor -- the people.

Naturally, the city administration would still provide the
funds and material as well as the manpower that would be needed
for the job, but in essence, the responsibility for overseeing
and carrying out the local management of such minor affairs would
be in the hands of the citizenry.

That was the idea as conveyed by Jakarta's Deputy Governor for
Development, H. Budihardjo, to the press some 18 months ago.
Eventually, said Budihardjo, people would become aware of their
rights and their duties. "If up to now everything is taken care
of by the government, eventually the community itself will be
involved in matters from neighborhood management to managing
sidewalk vendors."

Thus the issuance of Regional Ordinance No.5/2000 for the
setting up of Subdistrict Councils -- or Dewan Kelurahan -- whose
task it would be, among other things, to convey the aspirations
of the populace to the administration and to provide the city
administration with propositions or suggestions regarding
development schemes regarded necessary by the people in their
respective neighborhoods. Further, to assist their local
subdistrict administrations in explaining potentially
controversial policies to the populace and to empower the people
in their neighborhoods.

All that, of course, is highly commendable. In theory at
least, the councils would place democracy where it belongs: In
the hands of the people, rather than the hands of the political
parties. It would make democracy less elitist than it currently
is. Much criticism has been thrown in recent months at the
address of the Jakarta City Council, the city's provincial-level
legislature, whose factions are accused of representing their
respective political parties, more than their constituents.

More than that, putting the common Indonesian tendency towards
skepticism aside for a while, the councils could well be seen as
embryos for the civil society that this nation is currently so
desperately trying to establish against so many odds. In all,
some 265 subdistrict councils would be set up, in agreement with
the number of subdistricts in Jakarta.

Unfortunately, setting up those councils in reality proved to
be more complicated than it looked on paper. First, the initial
target of having all the councils established by the end of
January last year had to be abandoned. In a number of areas a
scramble ensued among candidates for seats. In several
neighborhoods, the election process went on despite a lack of
attendance, thereby giving rise to suspicions of foul play. In
other areas, members were appointed, rather than democratically
elected and there were reports of prospective candidates trying
to "buy" appointments as council members.

As a result, the first subdistrict councils were installed
only in August last year, more than six months behind schedule,
but even then the problems have not ceased. There were reports of
a council member being apprehended by police for carrying drugs.
And perhaps more seriously, there have been reports of
assistance, submitted to subdistrict councils to help victims of
the recent big floods hitting Jakarta, not reaching their
targets.

Does all this mean that the subdistrict councils had better be
abandoned and the councils that have already been set up
disbanded? Obviously not. In principle, there is nothing wrong
with the idea per se. What is wrong is execution of the idea.
Perhaps more time is needed to educate the community as to the
true significance of the councils which Indonesia's future civil
society could grow if all is tackled properly.

Admittedly, achieving that goal is a big job. But nothing is
achieved without effort. As they say, no pain, no gain.