Undemocratic Jakarta makes mockery of local autonomy implementation

Undemocratic Jakarta makes mockery of local autonomy implementation

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts say the implementation of the local autonomy program in
Jakarta is being hampered by the city's undemocratic political
system.

This situation, they added, was worsened by the lack of
political will from executive and legislative leaders, who were
reluctant to involve the public in the policy-making process.

"Widespread demonstrations by many groups from among the
general public who are against the various policies of the city
are indicative of the fact that many of these policies are not in
line with the people's wishes," said Wicaksono Suroso, executive
director of the Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI)
last Saturday.

According to Wicaksono, the recent gubernatorial election
process was proof of the divergence between the wishes of the
political leaders and the wishes of the people, and at the same
time showed that the local autonomy program, which was instituted
nationally in early 2000, was not working well here.

Sutiyoso was reelected as the city governor on Sept. 11 by the
City Council despite strong opposition from tens of thousands of
demonstrators outside the City Council building on Jl. Kebon
Sirih in Central Jakarta.

He won the electoral race after the intervention of President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who ordered councillors from her
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) -- the biggest
faction on the 85-member council -- to support the former Jakarta
military chief.

According to Wicaksono, the implementation of local autonomy
could not be separated from the process of democratization as
autonomy without democracy would only create an autocratic system
at the local government level.

"The phenomenon of "mini rajas" has already emerged in a
number of regions following the putting into effect of the local
autonomy program," he added.

Nationally, local autonomy is based on Law number 22/1999 on
local governance, while for Jakarta Law number 34/1999 on Jakarta
as the special capital district is the operative statute.

Law number 22/1999 rules that each city or regency constitutes
an autonomous region with its mayor or regent being elected by
its local council. In addition, village heads are directly
elected by the people.

Meanwhile, Law number 34/1999 provides that the Jakarta
governor appoints all heads of administration in the city ranging
from the five mayors and one regent down to all the subdistrict
heads all over the city.

Regional autonomy expert Andi Mallarangeng also said that
under Law number 34/1999, the Jakarta governor enjoyed much more
power compared to the governors in other regions as he was
officially only subject to oversight by the City Council.

"Unfortunately, the City Council, the only institution which
can control the governor, does not exercise its authority
properly as the councillors do not really serve as the people's
representatives," said Andi, a former advisor to the state
minister for regional autonomy.

Andi added that the views of the public were often ignored by
the City Council as corrupt councillors frequently colluded with
the governor or other executive leaders.

Therefore, he added, to make Jakarta more democratic, it would
not be enough to revise Law number 34/1999, but also Law number
2/1999 on political parties and Law number 3/1999 on general
elections would need to be overhauled.

The revision of those laws, according to Andi, would make
possible the implementation of direct elections by the public for
the posts of governor and the vice governors, members of the City
Council, members of the mayoralty councils, and members of the
subdistrict councils.

Andi criticized the House of Representatives, which was
reluctant to revise the laws even though draft revisions had
already been submitted.

Wicaksono agreed with Andi's idea about the need for
constitutional change as this was essential for the process of
democratization. He added, however, that the public's role in
exercising control should be maintained in the absence of formal
control mechanisms.

"We cannot entrust the control mechanism entirely to the City
Council as it has proven ineffective. Therefore, public pressure
is very important for carrying out informal control. Here, the
mass media has a significant role to play in channeling the
public's views," he noted.