Strong civil society needed in Jakarta

Strong civil society needed in Jakarta

Bambang Nurbianto and T. Sima Gunawan, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Jakarta is where all reforms begin as the city is home to
critical observers, critical students and critical activists of
non-governmental organizations. Unfortunately, the city's
political system is the most undemocratic in the country.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso is the most powerful governor.
Unlike his counterparts in other provinces, Sutiyoso has the
final say on policies from provincial up to subdistrict levels.

In other provinces, subdistrict heads are elected directly by
the people. But that's not the case in Jakarta, where officials,
as well as district heads, mayors and regents are appointed by
Sutiyoso.

Jakarta has local councillors in the level of province,
municipality and subdistrict. But the municipal and subdistrict
councils do not have political supremacy, while most provincial
councillors seem to have been coopted by the governor.

Experts blame Law No.34/1999 on Jakarta as the special capital
administration, which gives extraordinary power to the governor.

The law is in addition to Law No.22/1999 on regional
administrations, which is widely known as the Regional Autonomy
Law.

Based on Law No.22, regional autonomy is centered in the city
and regency, therefore both mayors and regents have overall
authority in their own regions. The governor only has a
coordinative function in the territory.

However, according to Law No. 34, Jakarta's autonomy is
centered at the provincial level. Therefore, the governor has
extraordinary power under which, if he wants, he may delegate
authority to the five mayors of North, West, Central, East and
South Jakarta, and to the regent of the Seribu Islands.

Revision of Law No.34/1999 has been proposed to the House of
Representatives and it has agreed on one crucial point, that is
to allow direct gubernatorial elections.

However, there are many other articles that also need revising
to make Jakarta more democratic. The current articles on the
election of mayors, regents and members of the municipal council
(Dekot) and subdistrict councils (Dekel) should also be amended
as the election process is not in line with democratic
principles.

Based on Article 20, paragraph 2 of Law No. 34/1999, the five
mayors and the regent in Jakarta are appointed by the governor
and should be approved by the City Council.

Article 26, paragraph 5 of the same law says that members of
the municipal council, taken from each district in a
municipality, are elected by the City Council. While Article 27,
paragraph 2 rules that members of subdistrict councils are
elected by heads of community units (RW).

It means that Jakarta is allowed to ignore Law No.4/1999 on
the status and function of the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR), the House of Representatives (DPR) and the city or
regency councils (DPRD). This law stipulates that all members of
the council are elected during general elections.

The revised law on Jakarta as the special capital
administration should also reduce the power of the governor and
give more power to the mayors and the regent as well as municipal
and subdistrict councils, whose members should be directly
elected by the people.

According to Tubagus Haryo Karbiyanto, an activist from the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), the centralistic power held by
the governor causes various problems, particularly because the
governor does not feel it is necessary to consider people's
aspirations when making policies.

"Therefore, we often find the policies made by the city
administration are not in line with what is needed by the
people," Tubagus said, referring to frequent demonstrations to
oppose policies made by the city administration.

Tubagus said the governor never listened to the demands of the
people as their protests would not affect his position.
"Therefore, he prefers to approach the 85 members of the City
Council."

It is sad to say that the councillors often seem to side with
the governor instead of the people.

This condition has forced the people to find a way to express
their demands by staging street demonstrations.

One non-government organization that often demonstrates in the
city is the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) led by Wardah Hafidz. UPC
has often protested policies made by Sutiyoso that are considered
to be disadvantageous to low-income people. It also protested the
administration's lack of preparedness when huge floods hit the
city earlier this year and victims were more or less left to fend
for themselves.

In one UPC rally, the protesters met with a group that was
demonstrating in favor of Sutiyoso. When Wardah accused the
people of being paid by Sutiyoso, a man armed with a machete
angrily chased her. She managed to escape, but some of Sutiyoso's
supporters beat several other demonstrators with sticks.

The biggest demonstration against Sutiyoso took place on Sept.
11 during the gubernatorial election. Thousands of people,
including students, rallied in front of the City Council building
to reject Sutiyoso, whom they considered incompetent.

Despite the strong pressure, Sutiyoso won, thanks to President
Megawati Soekarnoputri's support for him. Megawati, who is also
chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), ordered the 30 city councillors in her party's
faction to vote for Sutiyoso.

PDI Perjuangan Jakarta had earlier nominated several party
figures as gubernatorial candidates. However, Megawati rejected
them and ordered the faction to support Sutiyoso, a former
Jakarta military commander who was recently named a suspect in
the July 1996 bloody attack on PDI headquarters on Jl.
Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.

The reelection of Sutiyoso is a fitting example of the failure
of reform in Jakarta and proof of the lack of democracy here.

While Megawati argued that she gave the controversial order to
elect Sutiyoso in her capacity as the leader of PDI Perjuangan,
the law allows her, as president, to interfere in the
gubernatorial electoral process.

According to the Jakarta gubernatorial electoral regulations
made by the City Council and governmental regulation (PP) No.
151/2000 on the procedure for gubernatorial elections, the
gubernatorial candidates should be "discussed first" with the
President before their names are admitted for election.

This is exactly what happened in the New Order era, when all
elected governors were subject to president Soeharto's approval,
although some councillors said it was unlikely that the president
would reject a governor elected by the council.

It is clear that many laws and regulations should be improved
in order to promote democracy here. The House has agreed to
revise them, but the process will obviously take time. In the
meantime, civil society should empower itself and join forces to
fight for a more democratic Jakarta, even though this will not be
easy, especially as many are apathetic toward and depressed with
the stalled reform process.