Editorial: Bottom-up budgeting

Sat, 03/01/2008 3:26 AM  |  Opinion

As long as Jakarta Governor Fauzi Wibowo and the City Council stick to the old paradigm, where the two institutions "who know best" have sole rights to decide the city's aims and goals, they will keep missing our targets.

They have no choice but to involve the public fully, from the very beginning, in the decision-making process for the city's development goals, processes and budget-making.

Millions of Jakartans are currently paying the price for the dispute over the 2008 city budget between the governor and the councilors.

Fauzi complained the City Council turned the final budget draft upside down, despite the fact it was approved by legislative and executive in the middle of January.

But the public will never know the real reasons behind the delays because of the lack of transparency in the deliberation process. Many budgetary meetings, between councilors and city government officials, are held in closed-door sessions to which the public are denied access.

Whatever the reasons, the delays are regrettable. Fauzi and several other officials say the cuts affect budget allocations including those for education, road damage repairs, flood mitigation projects and poverty eradication. Councilors have reportedly shifted funding into less urgent items.

The cuts not only violate budgetary deliberation procedures -- because they were made after the draft budget's approval -- but also confirm that Jakarta legislative councilors are insensitive to the urgent needs of the people.

Many roads across the capital have sustained serious damage, worsened by recent rains and flooding. Potholes not only worsen traffic congestion, but also increase the risk of traffic accidents and damage to vehicles.

Dozens of school buildings across the capital are reportedly in dire need of funding for repairs due to their age. Following the cuts, the city government has sealed off a number of classrooms in such poor condition they posed a serious risk of injury or even death.

The council approved the 2008 city budget of Rp 20.59 trillion (US$2.26 billion) in mid January, slightly less than the previous year's Rp 20.95 trillion.

Unfortunately, legislators' budgetary decision-making authority has not always been used in the community's best interest. Instead, they often use this power to strengthen their bargaining position for their own (or their peers') personal gain.

Another concerning issue has been the sluggishness of the council in returning the draft budget to the city government, one month after it was approved. The finalization should have lasted only a few days. We deserve an explanation for this.

Both the city administration and the legislature have contributed to the problems. They treated the draft budget -- which should be a public document -- as confidential papers, and prevented the public from following the budgetary process from the start.

Learning from previous years, many city government agencies have failed to spend their allocated funds, which they have blamed on sluggish budgetary disbursements. Many urgent projects have failed to meet deadlines since most agencies had only received some 25 percent of allocated funding by the third quarter of each year.

The disbursements have also created inefficiency. Limited timeframes for developers to complete projects often result in poor quality workmanship in related projects. Time constraints may also leave opportunities for corrupt officials to play games. For example, by skipping proper tender procedures the process becomes less transparent and officials can make the deal to their advantage.

City leaders must make the budget deliberation process completely transparent because the public has the right to know how their tax money will be spent.

City leaders should also learn from other smaller and poorer regencies and provinces like Donggala, Central Sulawesi, West Sumatra and Yogyakarta.

People at grassroots levels in these areas are able to get involved in the budget-drafting process. It is unacceptable to say Jakartans are incapable of knowing what is the best for the city.

The governor and councilors must accept that taxpayers have the right to know if their aspirations are fully accommodated in the budget. Their money should be used for the betterment of the city and its inhabitants -- not for the interests of a small group of elites who happen to have the power to determine the future of Jakarta.

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