Super Team and Technocracy: Lessons from Jakarta for Regional Leaders
I recently read the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government’s magazine, the July 2026 edition: ‘100 Years of Ali Sadikin.’ I found it interesting that Ali Sadikin was a figure who dared to make unpopular policies that truly mattered for the people. Remarkably, Ali Sadikin was also anti-feudalism, even towards the children of nobility. That is a meaningful legacy for today’s DKI Jakarta Provincial Government, shaping its bureaucrats to break free from feudalism, to dare to think, to dare to make unpopular decisions, and to dare to think ‘out of the box’ while remaining oriented towards the public interest.
Ali Sadikin’s legacy in the development of Jakarta is not merely physical infrastructure, but the very foundation of Jakarta’s vision as a metropolitan city. During his leadership, he developed Ancol as a recreational area, Taman Ismail Marzuki as a cultural centre, terminals and markets to support mobility and the economy, the Pulo Gadung industrial area, as well as health, education, and sports facilities, and public spaces. He also strengthened Betawi identity and structured Jakarta’s administration into five city areas. Behind all this, Ali Sadikin was known for his courage in seeking development financing sources by optimising regional revenue. His greatest legacy is the mindset that urban development must be integrated: possessing a vision, supported by strong fiscal capacity, delivering public services, while simultaneously building the identity and quality of life of its citizens.
Jakarta residents did not make a mistake in choosing Pramono Anung as their current governor. To me, Pramono Anung is not just a senior political figure, but a technocrat who truly ensures the system works. This starts from the technocrats surrounding the governor, the bureaucrats from the provincial to the sub-district level, down to the field officers who continuously work to serve the community. This is the essence of how Governor Pramono Anung inherits Ali Sadikin’s legacy and builds Jakarta through a ‘Super Team’ based on technocracy. From the policy of providing free education to students in 103 private schools with a budget allocation of IDR 253.6 billion, the plan to open a TransJakarta route to the Thousand Islands in 2027, the LPDP Pemprov DKI Jakarta scholarship, the expansion of the TransJakarta network, to fiscal innovations through the issuance of regional bonds and the strengthening of Regional-Owned Enterprises, these policies demonstrate a direction of governance reform that deserves appreciation.
I must say honestly, the prowess of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is supported by a Bappeda that productively generates innovation, an Inspectorate that builds a corruption prevention system, BUMDs that are driven to be productive, and various institutions that work as a system. From my experience, this is what needs to be fixed in other regional governments. Many regional Bappeda tend to be passive, merely carrying out administrative and ceremonial functions, without sufficiently producing policy ideas or innovations. The essence of public policy is not to stop at populist programmes, but to be directed at expanding access to services, strengthening fiscal capacity, and building regional institutions that are more adaptive and sustainable. Through this approach, development is not only visible in macro indicators and index achievements but is also felt at the grassroots level.
It is at this point that bureaucratic reform finds its meaning: building a ‘super team’ that works collaboratively, is data-based, and is oriented towards one main goal, namely delivering public services that are easier, more effective, and responsive to community needs. Without intending to give excessive praise, the technocracy and ‘super team’ model built by the Governor and Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Pramono Anung and Rano Karno, together with their special staff and bureaucratic ranks, deserves to be a reference for other regions. A ‘super team’ can only be built on the foundation of meritocracy, by placing competent, high-integrity, and high-achieving individuals according to their fields and capacities. The quality of development is not solely determined by the size of the fiscal capacity owned, but by how adept the government is at managing, directing, and translating that capacity into productive and impactful policies.
It is true that fiscal strength is one of the main foundations for successful development. However, if a large fiscal space is not managed with a technocratic approach, supported by a competent bureaucracy, and translated through solid teamwork, can development truly be massive, directed, and sustainable? If you ask around 500 regional heads in Indonesia, perhaps almost all of them desire the fiscal strength possessed by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government. Strong fiscal capacity certainly provides greater room for regional governments to build, deliver public services, and finance various policy innovations. However, fiscal strength is not merely a matter of how large the budget is. A far more important question is: do regional governments have the capability and competence to manage it? This question is especially relevant for regional heads who still see their position as a space for transactional interests.