Yogie cautious on Jabotabek merger

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)