Seribu islands now a regency

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After being delayed twice, Kepulauan Seribu was finally inaugurated on Friday by Governor Sutiyoso as a new regency with Kamil Abdul Kadir appointed as the first regent.

The inauguration ceremony was held on Pramuka island. The islands, located in Jakarta Bay, were previously a district under the North Jakarta mayoralty.

At present there are 106 islands in the group but most still struggle to cope with serious problems such as poor public facilities and transportation, limited electricity, a lack of fresh water and increasing environmental damage.

On Pramuka island, which will be the capital of the regency, the residents only enjoy electricity for 12 hours a day, starting from 6 p.m. There is no tap water and they have to rely on the rain for fresh water as the ground water is brackish.

Those issues were raised by Sutiyoso in his speech, explaining that the problems had affected the residents economically and socially. Some 74 percent of 17,800 residents work as traditional fishermen and most of those are near the poverty line.

However, the economic level of the residents is contrasted with the Seribu image, which is of a relatively upmarket holiday area with some expensive resort islands. Most of those resorts are managed by private companies, or have become the private property of certain tycoons.

Despite the economic condition of the majority of the residents, the islands have been nearly neglected by its administration officers. According to several Pramuka island residents, the most recent district head refused to live on the island.

"The district head and his family live in Jakarta. He came here to do his job from 9 to 5 but his wife only came here when there was an event," a 45-year-old resident said.

Sutiyoso specifically ordered the new regent to live on the island and socialize with the residents so that he could experience the problems, and not just hear about them.

Sutiyoso told reporters later that he gave the new regent six months to set up the new regency. "If there is no improvement, we will evaluate his position."

Separately, several residents on Pramuka island told The Jakarta Post that they expected the new status to improve their welfare. "We don't expect much. Just give us jobs," said Ali.

Ali's colleague, Rahmat, said he had heard that there was a plan by the city administration to open a gambling center in the islands. He said that the residents would support the plan in hopes that they may be hired by the proposed casino.

Sutiyoso recently unveiled his plan to establish entertainment and gambling centers on several islands, but that has, so far, received mixed reactions from the city councillors as well as the public.