Jakarta City Council comes down hard on Fauzi

JAKARTA. The Commissions of Jakarta City Council convened on Thursday to deliver their response to the accountability report of incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo, who is seeking a second term this month.

While the Commissions in general criticized Fauzi’s performance over the last five years and questioned his claims of achievement, the tone of the criticism was perhaps tempered by a realization that Fauzi had a good chance to win reelection when voters go to the polls on July 11.

At a plenary session on Thursday, the Council’s Commissions delivered their formal responses to Fauzi’s accountability report, which the governor presented to the chamber in May.

Members of Council Commission B overseeing economic matters slammed Fauzi, claiming that his administration had not had an important role in the city’s continued economic growth.

Over the past five years, Jakarta has recorded an average annual economic growth rate of 6.17 percent, higher than the national rate of 5.88 percent, according to the governor’s report.

The city also contributed a staggering 16 percent to Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP), the largest contribution of any of the nation’s 33 provinces.

Commission members, however, said that local economic growth could be attributed to the nation’s growth and positive global macroeconomic conditions, rather than the work of the governor and his administration.

“The good condition of Jakarta’s economic fundamentals is not surprising, considering that the city already has all the best facilities in the country,” members of Commission A said in their response in the report.

Commission A is chaired by Selamat Nurdin, a council member from the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which holds the second largest number of seats on the Council: 18 of 94. The PKS has nominated Hidayat Nur Wahid as its gubernatorial candidate.

Fauzi’s reelection bid has been backed by the Democratic Party, the largest faction on the Council with 32 seats.

Commission A also criticized Fauzi for failing to provide adequate public transportation to alleviate the city’s horrendous traffic problems.

Fauzi disagreed with the assessment, claiming that he had achieved enormous progress, such as the launch of four new routes and three feeder routes for the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit system in the past four years.

The city now operates at total of 554 Transjakarta buses on 11 routes that cover 183.6 kilometers.

In its report, Commission A members said that the improvements had yet to reach the majority of residents in need. “The administration’s work is appreciated but it needs to devise more effective programs in the future,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the response from Commission D on development affairs, which is chaired by Berlin Hutajulu of the Democratic Party, applauded the administration’s progress on flood management, saying that significant results were observed after the opening of the East Flood Canal in 2009.

“We are encouraging the administration to set up a special body to manage the East Flood Canal to maintain the infrastructure,” Commission D said.

The governor is facing competition from five other candidates to secure votes from a total of 6.9 million registered voters. (Andreas D. Arditya, The Jakarta Post)

Select Fauzi campaign promises from 2007 and current results

2007 Promise: Green areas will comprise 14 percent of the city’s 66,000 hectares.
2012 Reality: Green areas now total 10.95 percent

Promise: 15 operational TransJakarta routes
Reality: 11 operational, 1 to be launched by year end

Promise: Dedicated bicycle lanes
Reality: 1.4 kilometers of lanes, only in South Jakarta

Promise: Construction of East Flood Canal, restoration of West Flood Canal
Reality: East Flood Canal opened before completion in 2009

Promise: Revitalize the city’s 13 main rivers
Reality: Work on 11 water channels and four reservoirs to begin in October