Jakarta more suited to the 'haves'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/30/2006 4:20 PM  |  Jakarta

Every year, Jakarta has another anniversary and every year experts and the media examine the city's management, which is invariably found to be lacking. The Jakarta Post asked some people if there is still hope for an integrated, poverty and pollution-free city.

Auli Esti Wijiasih is the program director of a non-profit group. She lives with her family in Central Jakarta:

If I were Jakarta governor; I would order all my officials including the lowest level of managers to seriously enforce the city's regulations. I would immediately fire officials who failed to do so.

Many of the bylaws here are meaningless because their implementation is not monitored by the administration.

Jakarta needs a tough and strict leader. Many Jakartans are becoming more indifferent to problems in the city not directly concerning them. But if they paid attention, they would realize the city's environmental and social problems also impact on their lives, they just don't want to know. It's a pity that many of these kind of people are the educated, better-off people.

Jakarta is certainly a place more suited to the ""haves"" because they can easily access the city's developments and basic infrastructure, all of which is provided for them. Unfortunately, any notions of empathy for the poor residents of this city have long dissipated from minds of the officials and the rich. It's ironic that we quickly provide help to victims of natural disasters in other regions but seldom care about the plight of the many poor people living right here. Take a look at Muara Angke in North Jakarta. The fishermen and their children there live their lives on top of the huge waste pile produced by this city.

Joko, 35, works in private bank in Jakarta. He lives with his family in Bekasi, West Java:

I have no idea anymore about the fate of Jakarta. The city's issues have long been covered by media, which has highlighted its good and bad side. What I most want to see is the city administration more closely monitoring the implementation of the bylaws it produces.

Most people are now free again to smoke wherever they like because there are no officials enforcing the new smoking regulations.

The future of Jakarta will depend on the proper enforcement of the city's regulations.

--The Jakarta Post

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.