Yogie cautious on Jabotabek merger

JAKARTA(JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie SM has hailed an idea to merge Jakarta, Bekasi, Bogor and Tangerang into one province, but says comprehensive feasibility studies are required first.

"There are a lot of aspects which should be considered before the idea can be realized," Yogie said over the weekend.

The minister was responding to a proposal raised by former state minister of environment Emil Salim, who said last week that the Greater Jakarta area, known by its acronym Jabotabek and comprising Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi needs one governor with ministerial level authority to face greater challenges in the future.

According to Emil, the realization of his idea would enable the authorities to improve services in the capital, which expects to have an increasingly international role as a growth center in the Southeast Asian region.

Emil said it would also support decentralization. He sees economic autonomy as an urgent step in order to tackle increasing global competitiveness.

Yogie said he appreciated the proposal especially since it was raised by Emil, who he described as a highly competent expert in economic and population matters.

"We should appreciate Pak Emil Salim's idea. But it cannot be realized overnight because comprehensive studies must be conducted first. And it takes time," Yogie, who is a former governor of West Java, said.

However, he said if the proposal was mainly based on the growth of population, "the size of Jakarta will continuously need to be extended."

Yogie reiterated that Emil's idea was great, but described the former minister's proposal that the Jakarta province should be headed by a governor with ministerial level authority as "something which is not viable."

In his proposal Emil estimated that by the 21st century the population of Greater Jakarta will be between 20 and 25 million.

"The population of Greater Jakarta by the 21st century would be the same as the current population of Australia. If things don't change, we can expect more complications in what will be one of the world's 10 megacities," Emil said.

However, the proposal has been indirectly rejected by West Java Governor R. Nuriana.

Unlike his predecessor Yogie, who used diplomatic language when he said that it would take time before Emil's idea could be realized, Governor Nuriana said implicitly that if the proposal was realized it "would create many problems."

He said one of the problems that should be tackled is the formulation of the size and status of the new province.

"If Jabotabek became a province, then the first thing the minister of home affairs should do is make changes in the formulation of the size and status of the new province," said Nuriana. "And this means that the government should make drastic changes to the rules governing the formulation of the size and status of all provinces across the country." (bas)