Sutiyoso proposes new structure

JAKARTA (JP): City Governor Sutiyoso officially proposed a new bylaw to the City Council on Thursday on a revised organizational structure for the city administration that will remove the new governor's power to take administrative action against city officials.

Under the proposed bylaw the governor would focus on political duties while, all administrative and internal affairs, would be handled by a city secretary. The governor would lead "a direct line of command" under which would be the city secretary, and the city's five mayors and his deputy.

The new governor would have only one deputy. Currently, Sutiyoso has four deputies, who supervise administration, welfare, economy and finance, and development affairs respectively.

The proposed bylaw rules that the city's secretary, who would still be assisted by five assistants, as is currently the case, would supervise directly the city agency chiefs, bureau chiefs and other city's technical institutions.

Sutiyoso said that the new structure was just a preliminary concept and he expected input from experts and councillors to improve it.

"It's just an initial concept. I hope experts and councillors could improve on it," he said.

He admitted that the governor's "line of command" in the new structure was not clear, saying that a governor should have access not only to the city secretary, but also other city officials.

But he agreed that the city secretary should handle all administrative and internal affairs and the governor would handle external affairs.

"It's similar to the military structure in which a military chief of staff handles administrative affairs while military commander focuses on external affairs," said Sutiyoso who was former Jakarta Military commander.

City Council chairman Edy Waluyo said the new structure significantly reduced the authority of the governor and gave too much power to the city secretary.

"It's too bad. The next governor would have no authority (in administrative affairs). It's like castrating the governor's power," Edy told reporters.

He agreed that the administrative and internal affairs should be handled by the city secretary, but the governor should also have the power to take action against officials under the city secretary.

He said a special team of councillors would discuss the proposed bylaw and suggested it be reviewed after receiving inputs from experts.

Councillor Sayogo Hendrosubroto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said that in a way, the proposed bylaw was good. If the governor has no authority in administrative affairs, should the governor and his or her deputy be replaced, this would not affect the administration.

But he also concurred that the proposed bylaw gave too much power to the secretary while the governor would have only minimal authority to control the administration. (jun)