Wahidin prioritizes public interest

Wahidin prioritizes public interest

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Just 10 months after Wahidin Halim was elected as Tangerang
mayor, significant changes can be seen across the municipality.

None could have predicted Wahidin's efforts to go the extra
mile to develop the municipality, create clean governance and
uphold the law, all in the first year of his term.

Three months after serving as mayor, the public has praised
him for his assertiveness in returning roads, pavements
and river banks to their proper use.

Pasar Anyer intersections that had been occupied by
hundreds of street vendors now look clean. Dozens of illegal
restaurants that used to stand along the Cisadane riverbank on
Jl. Benteng Makasar have been closed down and the riverbank
has resumed its function as a city park.

"Street vendors have too long caused road users and
pedestrians to be the losing parties and it is time now
to return roads and pavements to their real functions -- that
they are the right of the public," he told The Jakarta Post.

Five months later, Wahidin obliged all administration
employees to wear Muslim garb every Friday, while non-Muslims
could continue to wear civil servant uniforms as usual.

Go to the municipal administration office complex on
Jl. Satria Sudirman on a Friday, and one will see male employees
in baju koko (collarless shirts) and peci (traditional, black
rimless hats) and female employees wearing veils, red baju kurung
(sack dresses), long white skirts or pants.

"Banten claims itself as a center for Islamic boarding
school students but what is the evidence of such a claim
when guests visit us and ask about that?" Wahidin
said.

With a requirement for people to wear Muslim garb once a week,
Wahidin also wants to remind his staff to stick to the vision of
the akhlakul kharimah (responsible and honest) leadership he
initially committed himself to.

The four aims for the municipality are to: Recover and prompt
growth in the economy, improve the quality and quantity of
service to the public, develop a strong and clean administration
and achieve environmentally friendly development.

"The administration is aware of (the aims)
existence -- public servants and are willing to pursue the
achievement of the four aims if they are backed
up with religious principles," he said.

It seems not enough for Wahidin to simply sit behind
a desk in his office and give orders to his staff. He frequently
makes visits on foot, and meets and talks to community members,
students, schoolteachers and traders at markets and listens to
their complaints.

Several officials have even complained about Wahidin's style
as they could not keep up with him when accompanying him
on field trips.

As he had identified many problems in taking the municipality
forward Wahidin wrote a book, 1001 faces of Tangerang
Municipality. Through the 155-page work, recently published,
Wahidin has tried to analyze various problems.

"Development is identical with evictions -- the making of
social infrastructure. Is that wrong? Of course not. The
city needs structural development but a city is not merely
a structure.

"It needs space for human interaction, and basic rights, such
as justice, freedom and democracy are fundamental needs that
cannot be ignored by development pressures," he said.

Movie director Garin Nugroho, who has added a comment on the
book's dust jacket, said an important element in
leadership was the support that grows from the grass roots.

"Wahidin is a capable organizer, regulator
and communicator; that's the reason why a leader like him is
needed," he said.

Well-known lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, whose comments
also appear on the same cover, said the power should be used for
the benefit of people, which is why state officials are referred
to as civil servants. Wahidin was a good example of a state
official who was also a civil servant, he said.

A type of leader who avoids formality, Wahidin always appears
exactly as he is, treating all he meets as friends, and is always
in good humor, with a joke ready. None of his staff feel
uncomfortable in his presence because Wahidin always makes them
laugh.

He is likely to be the first regional administration leader to
have spent 42 percent of the administration's total budget on
improving education.

"How can we create high-quality human resources if we
ignore the educational infrastructure and other supporting
facilities?" he said.

The allocation of Rp 80 billion from the Rp 205.5 billion
budget was insufficient to renovate 212 dilapidated
schools this year, so he has called upon the
private sector to cover the financial shortfall.

He is collaborating with private investors through
low-interest loans under an installment scheme, with total
investment reaching Rp 228 billion to renovate damaged the
schools.

"If we relied solely on the annual budget, the renovation
would take three years to complete. By then, some of the
schools might have collapsed," he said.

Wahidin said the collaboration scheme with private
investors should be followed by other administrations, and
that the neighboring Tangerang regency was already on the
lookout for investors for a similar project.

He said if the administration could finish the renovation
work next year, it would concentrate on subsidizing poor
private schools and help them to renovate using the 2006 budget.

"The following year, we shall focus on improving teachers'
welfare," he said.

However, not all of Wahidin's policies have been accepted. His
proposal to relocate all amusement centers in Karawaci was
opposed, and he eventually postponed it.

His plan to eliminate becak (pedicabs) from several main
streets was also opposed by becak drivers.

Born in Pinang village, Tangerang municipality in 1954,
Wahidin, known as a simple man, grew up and spent all his life
there. He has refused to move the mayors' official residence to
Jl. Daan Mogot.

Walking barefoot every day to elementary school in Pinang
and junior high school in Cileduk was his habit because
his father, a schoolteacher, could not afford to buy a bicycle
for little Wahidin.

He finally got a bike after he started senior high in
Tangerang, continuing his studies at the University of Indonesia
(UI). After graduation, Wahidin was elected the first
village head with a university diploma, in 1978.

The young Wahidin married soon after he was promoted as a
civil servant in 1979. In the early 1980s, the father of three
was promoted to the position of Ciputat and Tigaraksa district
administration chief.

In the course of his career, Wahidin then led several
technical agencies and was administrative assistant under the
Tangerang regency administration.

By late 2002, he was promoted to Tangerang municipal
administration secretary and a year later was elected mayor.

Wahidin has acquired much organizational experience as
chairman of many community groups. As manager of Tangerang
regency's Persita and Tangerang municipality's Persikota football
teams, he has placed a priority on education.

He established the Nurani Kami Foundation, which regularly
gives scholarships to 150 poor school and university students
each year.