Sutiyoso opposes plan to create smaller municipalities

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.