Why Marco K. cannot be the next governor

Why Marco K. cannot be the next governor

Daniel Ziv, Former Chief Editor, 'Djakarta! - The City Life Magazine'

Of the various candidates proposed for the important election
this September of Jakarta's next Governor, Marco Kusumawijaya,
40, is probably the least qualified.

o He has absolutely no military background (instead, he wasted
his early 20s studying architecture and engineering in Bandung,
and as a lecturer and researcher on public housing development in
West Timor);

o He isn't a member of any political party (he's merely a
senior advisor to UNDP national projects on urban management and
development and president of the Indonesian Society for Built
Environment);

o He hasn't been on any lavish overseas "study trips" for city
councilors (instead, he possesses a silly little Masters of
Engineering degree from Belgium and a thesis entitled: Jakarta's
Thamrin-Sudirman Avenue: Problems of Modernization in a
Developing Metropolis);

o He isn't considered a high-profile suspect in the horrific
1996 raid on the PDI Perjuangan party headquarters that left
dozens of people dead or missing (he's only managed to
participate in peaceful demonstrations with the Urban Poor
Consortium against violent evictions of slums by the
municipality);

o He isn't wealthy and doesn't own numerous houses or a fleet
of luxury cars (in fact, the naive little sod lives way out by
the airport, shares a used Isuzu Panther with his wife, and
sometimes even travels by public transport!);

o Worst of all, he doesn't harbor any particular desire to
become Governor, nor does he consider it "his destiny" or "his
humble duty to the people."

What a loser.

I first met Marco when I was editor of Djakarta! - The City
Life Magazine and we commissioned him to write a series of
honest, hard-hitting articles on municipal issues ranging from
Jakarta's flooding crisis to slum evictions and corruption at
city hall.

I've had plenty of talented young writers come through my
office with fresh and original takes on urban issues, but never
anyone quite like Marco.

Thoughtful, soft-spoken and astoundingly knowledgeable about
every imaginable aspect of city planning and management in
Jakarta, he is the consummate urban development professional --
the kind of guy who is focused and really tuned in to the issues
that matter.

The kind of guy in whose hands you'd happily place this city's
fate for a year, or five or even 10.

And he's hardly one of those know-it-all urban engineering
geeks. Quite the opposite -- he is confident, eloquent and
charismatic.

Rather than citing endless statistics or jargon-heavy city
planning theories, Marco talks sense, engages his listeners, and
seems to delight in exchanging ideas and discovering new angles.

Perhaps most surprisingly -- considering how much he knows is
so fundamentally wrong with Jakarta -- Marco comes across as an
optimist and focuses quite stubbornly on the potential inherent
in this city.

For all of these reasons and perhaps a few more, Marco will
never become Jakarta's Governor.

He is simply far too good, and it would never occur to the
self-serving, small-time politicians who make up the city council
that elects the next governor, to choose somebody as
fundamentally qualified as Marco.

These municipal wheeler-dealers condescendingly dismiss him as
an "activist" or -- even worse -- "architect".

They do so because it would reflect badly on them to have a
true professional at the helm, and besides, they will assume
correctly that he cannot be bought -- certainly not a good thing
for local politics and politicians.

Even if Marco's candidacy were taken seriously (which it is
not, because it is proposed by good-governance NGOs like the
Jakarta Residents' Forum rather than Machiavellian political
bosses), he'd be up against impossible odds.

Incumbent Governor Sutiyoso has by all accounts made virtually
every mistake in the book during his tenure and has in process
alienated himself from the populace.

Yet incredibly -- for reasons having far more to do with his
military ties than any supposed municipal policies -- he's
secured crucial endorsements from President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah Haz.

Megawati herself will have plenty to answer for if, as
expected, Sutiyoso is re-elected.

From among dozens of candidates (and at least two from her
very own party) the self-described reformist President threw her
weight behind a New Order-born-and-bred Lieutenant-General from
the notorious Kopassus (special forces) brigade, a man who many
members of Megawati's own PDI Perjuangan believe was directly
involved in the deadly 1996 raid on their party headquarters.

With logic like that, the thought of anybody of Marco's
caliber standing a chance in hell of winning the gubernatorial
race is, well, utterly illogical.

Since Sutiyoso has done such a tremendous job of handling the
February floods;

o since his administration has mastered the art of violently
evicting penniless slum-dwellers from plywood shacks during the
rainy season;

o since he is so adept at ensuring that he and all 85 of his
city councilors receive outrageous personal clothing and health
and travel and car allowances;

o since, according to his accountability speech a few months
ago, he has planted 3.5 million (yup, three-and-a-half million!)
new trees and created 37 new public parks in the city in the past
year alone (don't say you haven't noticed them);

Because of all these impressive gubernatorial achievements,
poor old Marco will have to miss out on the chance of living in
the luxurious gubernatorial mansion and return to stupid urban
planning consultancy gigs, to writing wishful little editorials
in newspapers and magazines, and to living in that modest little
house out by the airport.

He'll probably be happier all the same. But what a loss to
this city.