Sutiyoso to make more visit to slum areas

JAKARTA (JP): Disappointed by the excessive preparation of local officials, Governor Sutiyoso has decided to make impromptu visits to the city's slum areas in an attempt to see the reality of the conditions people are living in.

Speaking to the media in Jakarta on Monday, the governor, whose weekly schedules are heavy with meetings with the low- income residents, said the extreme preparation made by his officials to welcome him at the visited areas had, in turn, concealed the real condition of the people.

"From now on, I want to get to the areas without any preparation. I want to meet these people in their real surroundings to get objective feedback," Sutiyoso said.

In many of his recent visits to the slum areas in the capital, he recalled that many of his subordinates had visited the location earlier to make some preparations at the places to welcome him.

"For me, it's better not to dress up these poor areas only because of my visit. Should they be first beautified, we might not discover what we really want to know. I feel for these people," the governor said.

Early this month, Sutiyoso visited a number of poverty- stricken areas across the capital, including Rorotan in Cilincing, North Jakarta and Kamal in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

He also visited fire victims in Cikini, Kenari, Cempaka Baru, Senen and Kampung Bali, all in Central Jakarta, in August.

When asked to comment on Sutiyoso's remarks, Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said that such preparations were badly needed each time the governor planned to meet with the local communities.

He said that he used to inform heads of the subdistrict and the district prior to the governor's arrival.

"If it's a formal visit, we must make some preparations. Not only the governor, even if a mayor wants to make a visit, they would prepare the location just as we, the Indonesian people, prepare something to welcome our guests," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The preparation, he said, was not intended to camouflage the real condition of the people.

"It's just to welcome the guests," Andi repeated.

But he admitted that some of his subordinates had once prepared for the governor's visit in such a way that could be seen as "too much."

Sutiyoso, he recalled, was about to examine a neighborhood night patrol system in an area in Central Jakarta, but the local district and subdistrict heads had apparently organized some people at a place where the governor would meet and brief them.

"It's of course strange because the people hastily went back to sleep as soon as the governor and his entourage left," Andi said.

But he agreed to the governor's decision to perform a sudden visit, instead of announcing his agenda.

"It would be better if he does not inform us at all before his visits," Andi said. (ivy)