Surjadi promises cleaner bureaucracy

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja pledged yesterday to straighten out the bureaucracy and improve public service in an effort to make the city one of the world's foremost cities.

Surjadi, known as a silent hard-working fellow, also renewed the call for city bureaucrats to shun corrupt practices in order to improve the municipality's image.

"The development process should not only cover physical activities but the people's mentality as well. This means that it is important for the city bureaucrats to adhere to laws," he told a press conference in connection with the city's 468th anniversary today.

Surjadi said that currently there is a tendency for Jakartans in general, including city officers, to do anything, foul or fair, to achieve their goals.

The city administration has often become a target of criticism for its complicated bureaucratic procedures, corruption and bad public service.

In commemorating the city's anniversary and the nation's 50th Independence Day the governor appealed for Jakartans to renew their working spirits.

The governor admitted that the service rendered by the 76,000 city government employees is not as good as the public expects it to be. "Even I am not satisfied with their performance," he added.

To solve the problem, the city government plans to improve its human resources so that it will be able to cope with the mounting urban problems.

Ideally, he said, the city employees should serve the people properly regardless of their social and economic status.

"All complaints made the people should be treated similarly to complaints made by the governor," he said, adding that people should also participate in social control.

However, the governor said in that straightening out the bureaucracy concrete results cannot not be expected overnight because it would not be an easy job.

Better discipline on the part of the city administration's employees is needed to quicken the various development projects, he said, in order to make Jakarta into one of the world's most famous cities.

The city administration plans to start several projects, such as the multi-million-dollar land reclamation scheme in North Jakarta and the proposed subway system from Kota to Blok M. Both are to start early next year, along with work on the Manggarai integrated terminal. (yns)