The governor's new clothes

The governor's new clothes

What could Rp 105 million -- the equivalent of about US$7,500
-- buy in this time of crisis in Jakarta? Some 35,000 kilograms
of rice, perhaps, or more than 17,000 kgs of cooking oil, or
4,200 one-liter cans of milk, or 43,750 kgs of sugar. Even at the
current inflated prices, Rp 105 million could do a lot to relieve
the hardships of those who are suffering the most in the ongoing
economic crisis.

With that kind of money, hospitals would be able to at least
partly resupply their dwindling stocks of medicines. Schools
would be able to repair or maintain their run-down buildings, or
help pupils whose parents have become too poor to pay their
school fees. Or, of course, it could be used to buy new clothes
fit for a governor of Jakarta, which is after all the capital of
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest and most populous country.

Considering the value that such an amount of money represents
to the great majority of Indonesians in this time of hardship,
credit must be given to Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso who has had the
good judgment to order the official Rp 105 million dress
allowance which is allotted to him under the current fiscal
year's city budget to be scrapped.

The money would have enabled the governor to buy an official
governor's uniform, two city administration uniforms, two civil
security uniforms and state employee uniforms. In addition,
Sutiyoso also ordered his city secretary to trim other expenses
allocated under the city budget for his position, including
expenses for the governor's household totaling Rp 8.2 billion for
the current fiscal year.

As Sutiyoso said, "I've already bought two coats. That should
be enough for any official ceremonies. Besides, I can still use
the clothes I had before I was appointed governor." The governor
even went a step further by asking his subordinates to follow his
example and reduce their spending on official clothing.

By making this timely decision, Sutiyoso incidentally, has
averted the kind of caustic public criticism that other high-
echelon government officials have endured. Early this month, for
example, West Java Governor Nuriana was asked to trim his Rp 100
million annual budget for official apparel and his Rp 275 million
budget for the maintenance of his official cars.

Such instances of bureaucratic extravagance might remind many
of us of a few similar cases that got caught in the public
spotlight in the not-so-distant past and might have been
forgotten in the din of more recent developments. We still don't
know, for example, what happened to the proposed building of a
multibillion rupiah mansion for Central Java's provincial
governor, or to the planned construction of a Rp 1 billion
swimming pool in the backyard of a government administrator in
Bekasi, east of Jakarta.

But if such huge sums are allotted for top regional officials
in Jakarta and West Java, it would only be reasonable to assume
that governors and other top-ranking administrators and
bureaucrats elsewhere must be getting similar facilities.

In the kind of feudalistic reasoning that was common among New
Order authorities of the Soeharto era, high-ranking officials
deserved to have their authority demonstrated by tangible tokens
of their lofty status.

In the more democratic and populist climate that prevails at
present, however, it should be obvious where the priorities must
lie. A provincial governor and all the bureaucrats that serve
under him are first and foremost public servants whose duty it is
to look after the interests of the people under their
jurisdiction. Their first duty is to look after the people's
welfare and their general well-being.

Of course, it is reasonable to expect that bureaucrats, like
other functionaries in office, public or private, properly look
after their personal appearance. But it is the performance of
their duties that distinguishes the successful official from the
unsuccessful. Clothes, by themselves, do not make the man.
Without the ability to perform, an official, however high his
official status, might just as well be naked.