Sutiyoso told to take note of people's needs
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Observers urged Governor Sutiyoso on Wednesday to start listening to the people and allow them to take an active part in running the city based upon a participatory approach.
Azas Tigor Nainggolan of the Jakarta Citizens Forum (Fakta) and Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), told The Jakarta Post separately that the city administration should change the way it approached development in the city by directly involving the public.
They were commenting on the newly endorsed City Strategic Plan (Renstra), which they deemed inadequate for ensuring a better development process in Jakarta.
Tubagus said that in implementing development, it was important for Sutiyoso to start listening to the views of Jakartans and engage in a sincere dialog to find out what they really wanted from the city administration.
In some instances, the city administration had said it wished to invite the views of the public, but it was useless as officials refused to listen to what people said.
"The city administration, for example, has asked for the opinions of community unit (RW) and neighborhood unit (RT) heads on how to prepare for possible floods," said Tubagus.
"But sadly, such participation is only sought after the disasters have already taken place, or the level of participation only amounts to lip-service."
Tubagus, however, said it was not too late for Sutiyoso to improve the Strategic Plan so as to pave a smoother path for his successor.
"There will always be huge problems in Jakarta to be tackled by Sutiyoso or whoever the governor happens to be," he said.
"The Strategic Plan is such a long-term document. If Sutiyoso manages to improve it, he will make the job of his successor easier," he said.
The City Council endorsed the Strategic Plan through a bylaw on Tuesday while on Monday the City Council passed two other bylaws, one on the City Development Guidelines (Poldas) and one on the City Development Program (Propeda).
"I have had difficulties in obtaining these three documents, while I need to study them further. How can the city administration expect society to fully understand such documents when they are hard to come by?" asked Tubagus.
"This shows that the city administration has yet to change and is reluctant to become more transparent and open."
Meanwhile, Azas said the city administration needed to facilitate public participation not only in the planning process but also in the budgeting process.
"The subdistrict heads and subdistrict councils should be allowed to draft their own projects instead of being handed on a plate those already formulated by City Hall.
"This would force the subdistrict heads and councils to really listen to the residents and get to know their areas better," he added.
Azas also questioned the absence of clear indicators in the Strategic Plan to allow for an evaluation of the governor's performance.
"Even some of the councillors regretted that they failed to draft more specific indicators on how to assess the city administration's performance," he said.