Sutiyoso opposes plan to create smaller municipalities

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso has come out against the creation of more, smaller municipalities in the capital, saying the idea is unrealistic and inefficient.

"The plan to create more municipalities in Jakarta is extremely unrealistic because we would have to follow it up by building new offices," Sutiyoso said at City Hall over the weekend.

Sutiyoso also expressed doubt that the plan would improve services for residents.

"It would create more inefficiency by adding more people in the very same jobs," he said.

Sutiyoso said poor public services were mainly the result of the rapid expansion of Jakarta caused by the influx of migrants coming to the capital looking for work.

Jakarta, which is home to about 70 percent of the total money in circulation in the country, continues to attract waves of job seekers. Between 200,000 and 250,000 migrants arrive in the city every year, most of them unskilled. Most end up in poorly paid jobs in the informal sector.

"Urbanization problems in Jakarta can be tackled if leaders in other areas of the country develop their own regions using the greater autonomy they enjoy under law on autonomy," he asserted.

City Council Commission A for legal affairs recommended late last year increasing the number of municipalities in the city and making them smaller.

The council suggested that Law No. 34/1999 on Jakarta as a special administration be revised to redraw the map of the capital to expand the number of municipalities from five to eight.

Achmad Suaedy, the chairman of Commission A, said smaller municipalities -- consisting of at least four districts -- would help municipal administrations improve services for a fast- growing population.