Toward a stronger council

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.