This month Jakarta has seen three seemingly separate events: First, the Citizens Coalition for Jakarta 2030 announces a class action civil lawsuit against the Jakarta Administration for the latter’s failure to gather adequate public participation in formulating the 2030 Spatial Planning; second, the capital was host to the 6th Assembly of the World Forum for Democracy, where world figures such as Anwar Ibrahim lauded Indonesian democracy and called it the exemplar of democracy in Southeast Asia; and third, the clash between public order officers with Tanjung Priok citizens regarding North Jakarta administration’s plan to reduce the size of a compound of the monument of Mbah Priok, an Islam proselytizer from which the area took its name.
Together, the three events send a strong message to democratically elected Governor Fauzi Bowo: It is time for him to lay down the foundations for a more democratic capital. An undemocratic approach has proven to be counterproductive to the city.
While the first and the third events provide a similar vein, in which the administration abused its power and took a shortcut while disregarding the citizens’ voice, the second event evokes a sense of irony with the other cases.
Several died in the Priok clash and the fact should be a wake-up call for Fauzi to change the administration’s decade-long top-down policy approach. There is no use blaming the mob Wednesday or calling them an irrational bunch of savages who killed public order officers. It is an undeniable fact that when you come to an area such as Tanjung Priok, where life is hard, with hundreds of people flaunting sticks and with the intention to attack, the people would respond in kind. The administration should have seen it coming.
Why not try another approach. Why not listen to what the people of Jakarta have to say. Instead of hiring public order officers armed with tear gas, why not hire people armed with communication skills?
Indonesia has experienced almost 12 years of democracy and it can now boast its position as the third largest democracy in the world. We have press freedom. We elect our parliament members and since 2004 our president democratically. The regional autonomy also allows regional heads to be elected directly by citizens.
Jakarta, the capital, saw Fauzi as the first governor to be elected directly in a democratic process in 2007.
The administration of the capital, however, still operates in the manner of the New Order, especially in the way it runs urban development. The change is probably that it now frequently claims it holds formal meetings, albeit laden with monologues, with residents as audience.
Another example is the way the administration has drawn the plan for the next 20 years.
Fauzi insists that they had gathered enough public participation by inviting several experts in focus group discussions before completing the draft planning. Later after the Coalition insisted it was not enough, the administration held several sessions to disseminate information about the plan to residents. The sessions, however, were halfheartedly organized and done after the administration finished the draft. Thus, the sessions served more as a channel where the administration told attendants — which usually did not go past dozens of people — about the plan, but did not open the draft to discussion.
During almost three years of his tenure, Fauzi, the first capital leader with the benefit of democracy, has never given back to democracy. In the first year of his leadership, Jakarta saw a heartless eviction of fish and flower shops at Barito Park in South Jakarta. The administration at that time faced a group of educated middle-class citizens who fought the plan with flowers and a sound plan to help the city revamp the park. They even offered the city a public-private-partnership: They would finance the renovation project and bear the maintenance cost of the park for as long as they could continue their flower and fish shops at the park. Fauzi and his staff did not listen and they went on with the plan.
Afterward, he has been operating true to his slogan “Hand it over to the expert”, which he interprets as a top-down manner. He’s the expert and the citizens should go along with him.
He only has less than two years before ending his first term. He may have another five years, but in case he doesn’t, he should seize the moment to show the country or even the international world that he has the capacity as a democratic leader. That is an achievement he should choose to be remembered by — not his “expertise” — which has been increasingly mentioned more in a sarcastic tone.
