Sutiyoso proposes new structure

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)