Sutiyoso's accountability weak: Councillors
Ahmad Junaidi The Jakarta Post Jakarta
City councillors viewed Governor Sutiyoso's accountability speech for the 2001 City Budget, which was delivered on Thursday, to be weak and an attempt to hide his failures.
As predicted, Sutiyoso neglected to mention his administration's failure to prevent the massive floods which hit the city in January and February this year, or the garbage management issue.
Speaking after the council's plenary session, many of the councillors said they would likely reject the speech while others said they preferred to discuss it amongst their party factions before deciding on an official stance.
"I personally will recommend that my faction reject the speech," Councillor Dani Anwar of the Justice Party (PK) said.
Dani accused Sutiyoso of violating a regulation which bans him from becoming the president commissioner of city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya.
He said Sutiyoso claimed in his accountability speech that he and the deputy governors relinquished their posts from city-owned firms last year.
"That's simply not true. I know that, as of the end of 2001, he was still the (PD Pasar Jaya) president commissioner," said Dani, who is also the secretary of Council Commission B for Economic Affairs.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) also expressed their inclination to reject Sutiyoso's accountability speech based on his failures on several fronts, especially garbage management.
"How can he exclude the most important issue -- the Bantar Gebang garbage dump management -- from his accountability speech?" PAN's faction chairman M. Nadjamudin asked.
He also asserted that Sutiyoso's administration was especially weak with regard to public order and public service.
The city suffered "losses" of Rp 14 billion in compensation which was paid to the Bekasi mayoralty for the reopening of Jakarta's main dump in Bantar Gebang.
Bekasi closed the 104-hectare dump, located in three villages of the municipality, last December and reopened it a week after a series of negotiations.
The council's largest faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) refused to give a clear indication of their stance after the speech, but admitted to being disappointed.
"Sutiyoso only discussed the 'sweet things'. There are many problems in the capital but he has failed to explain them," the faction's secretary M. Nakum AR said.
The United Development Party (PPP) councillor Syarief Zulkarnaen said Sutiyoso's claim that the city-owned firms' contribution had improved was untrue.
"The firms only contributed 0.37 percent to the city's revenue. They are still in a poor state," he said.
Only the Golkar Party faction declared the governor's speech adequate.
"It's good enough, although he still needs to give more details," Golkar faction chairman Ade Surapriatna said.
The council's 11 factions -- comprised of 85 councillors, 30 from PDI Perjuangan, 13 from PPP, 13 from PAN, eight from Golkar, four from PK and the remaining seven from other parties -- will each give the accountability speech a thumbs up or a thumbs down on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, outside the building on Jl. Kebon Sirih, hundreds of Sutiyoso's supporters called the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR), reacted with violence when they arrived and mistook the Jakarta People's Alliance (AMJ), who were already on-site in support of the governor, for being anti-Sutiyoso.
Two members of AMJ were injured in the senseless melee.
AMJ's coordinator, Syarief, claimed that the incident was merely a misunderstanding as neither side was apparently aware that they were supposed to be in support of Sutiyoso.