Toward a stronger council

Soccer maniacs in Jakarta must have been jolted upon learning that glorious and magnificent Real Madrid lost to "nobody" Monaco, and that Chelsea beat Arsenal, their first win after 18 attempts against Arsenal.

But those who love politics more than soccer were surely equally surprised to learn about the tentative result of the legislative election, where new kid on the block Democratic Party and six-year-old Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) seem well on their way to overpowering the two giants: the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party.

The provisional results for the four top positions for the Jakarta City Council (DPRD) as of 7:30 p.m. on April 7 showed the Democratic Party leading with 132,157 votes and the PKS with 131,019, while the PDI-P and Golkar had garnered 81,125 and 48,211 votes, respectively.

These are just provisional results, but observers predict that the final positions will not be that different from the provisional results. The theory seems also valid on the national level. Jeffrey Winters, an American expert on Indonesian politics, says that the final national results will not diverge that much from the tentative ones. It is therefore interesting to watch this political phenomenon.

The City Council has for decades been dominated by people who have a very good understanding of the Jakarta administration. This is reflected by -- among other things -- the fact that the Council has always accepted the governor's annual budget report.

No policies, including controversial ones made by the administration, have never been questioned. This situation has existed since the New Order era. People's expectations that the City Council would be more critical in the reform era have fallen flat.

The provisional results can be regarded as an unspoken protest against the City Council, which has been functioning as a rubber stamp for the administration. Citizens have regularly seen irregularities in administration policies that were approved by the Council, although they cannot attest to them legally.

The mushrooming of shopping centers and malls in all parts of the capital could be cited as one blatant example of those irregularities. Everybody, including the governor and other city officials and councillors, know that Jakarta needs a better living environment -- more open spaces and green areas. But there have been no meaningful efforts made to deal with this environmental problem, and more and more malls continue to be constructed. The reclamation project on the city's northern coastline is yet another case in point. These are just small problems created by the administration and approved by the Council.

But it is obvious that the people are able to judge the Council's performance for themselves. Many residents suspect that money is behind the Council's attitude. One or two councillors usually object to an administration policy, but after the media cover the issue, the objections usually fade away. Only the councillors know why.

Under such circumstances, only the Democratic Party, led by former coordinating minister for political and security affairs Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the PKS, led by Hidayat Nur Wahid, are expected to emerge as the saviors.

Frankly, of course, nobody can guarantee that the City Council will perform better if or when it is dominated by people from Susilo's and Hidayat's parties.

In all honesty, the newborn Democratic Party has only Susilo to sell. It helped the party tremendously when his popularity skyrocketed after he was discarded by President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her powerful husband, Taufik Kiemas. The PKS, for its part, offers commitment to clean governance.

Susilo and the PKS' promise of a clean government have apparently inspired the Jakarta electorate to inject fresh blood into the lame City Council. Their votes for Susilo's party and the PKS reflect this resistance against the existing powers that be.

Those who did not vote for Megawati's party, the PDI-P, or Golkar, the former ruling party that Sutiyoso backed in the past, are striving to make their dream of having better city administration come true.

For the incumbent governor, Sutiyoso, it makes no difference whether or not the citizens want him to step down or remain in power, as he must leave his post in 2007 anyway after having governed the city for two consecutive terms.

It is time for Jakarta to have a critical, strong, smart and clean City Council, with the political courage to say "no" to the administration's flawed policies, especially those thought to be tainted by bribery.

And it is time for the citizenry to realize their longtime dream, which is to have a City Council that is capable of controlling the governor.