The Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA) needs to be developed and managed as a compact urban region through an integrated spatial development plan to ensure the sustainability of this region, although this area consists of regencies and municipalities, collectively called Jabodetabek and referring to Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi, that have authority of their own.
In the present regional autonomy and decentralization era, coordination between local governments seems a difficult and complicated matter. What is needed at present is good collective leadership from the regional administrations of West Java, Banten and Jakarta as well as the central government. The biggest challenge is how to establish an appropriate governance institution, which can optimize the potential of this metropolitan area.
It was then governor Ali Sadikin who first proposed in the early 1970s the regional development of Jakarta and its surroundings. He was joined by then governor Sutiyoso, who reiterated the need for the development of an integrated “Megalopolitan Jabodetabekjur” covering Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Bekasi, Tangerang, Bogor regency, Bekasi regency, Tangerang regency and Cianjur regency as a solution to regional development problems.
There is the Cooperation Agency for JMA Development (BKSP), which was jointly established by the provincial administrations of West Java and the Jakarta in 1975 to coordinate planning and to implement and monitor development at the JMA. The establishment of the BKSP was reinforced by Home Affairs Minister Decree No. 29/1980 and later by the National Planning Minister Decree No. 125/1984.
This institution is headed jointly by governors of West Java, Banten and Jakarta, but day-to-day operations are managed by an executive secretary appointed by governments of the three provinces for five years in rotation. BKSP membership consists of governors from the provincial administrations, regents and mayors within the JMA.
The BKSP has now become a forum for coordination among provincial and regional administrations in the JMA. However, BKSP does not have any authority on the implementation of development programs in the JMA, as that lies with each provincial and regional administration in the area. BKSP also does not have its own staff or financial resources, as it depends on contributions from the provincial administrations of Jakarta, West Java and Banten.
There is a growing need to set up a body that can plan, coordinate and supervise the implementation of development programs for the JMA across provincial and regional jurisdictional boundaries in a more effective way as BKSP cannot effectively perform such a formidable task.
Establishing a single authority for the JMA similar to the Tokyo Metropolitan Area seems to be out of question due to strong political tensions, especially among provincial administrations involved. These tensions prove to be counterproductive for the purpose of establishing integrated JMA development, although Law No. 32/2004 on Regional Administration opens the possibility of merger for the whole or part of the region as well as the proliferation of regencies and municipalities.
The establishment of a single authority for the JMA could mean that the legislature (DPR) has to cancel all regional administrations in the JMA. Obviously, this would not be a feasible solution to the problem as it could draw complaints and strong resistance from parties, especially provincial administrations of West Java and Banten, local elites, as well as communities at large, and might create tensions and conflicts among the stakeholders.
Another option is to establish a two-tier regional municipality, with executive and legislative functions, such as in Greater Vancouver, Canada, in which the metropolitan area is headed by a mayor who has to work with a regional municipality council consisting of directly elected councils and representatives of each municipality’s council. It works well for Greater Vancouver, but not necessarily for the JMA simply because the Indonesian law on regional administration (Law No. 32/2004) does not recognize such a regional municipality system.
The establishment of a JMA governance institution should nevertheless take into account the existence of BKSP which has been politically accepted by all provincial and regional administrations in the region.
Moreover, Law No. 29/2007 regarding the status of Jakarta as the capital of Indonesia, stipulates that the provincial administrations of Jakarta, West Java and Banten along with regional administrations bordering with Jakarta cooperate under an interregional cooperating body, which is to established on the basis of agreement among them.
The law also explicitly states that the cooperation should be primarily focused on planning, utilizing and controlling spatial development for Jakarta and its surrounding areas (JMA), which should be coordinated by the central government through related ministries, including Ministry of Public Works, the National Planning Agency, and Ministry of Home Affairs (article 29).
Given the complexity of JMA problems, the functions of JMA as a metropolitan governance institution should focus on common development aspects, most notably transport system, spatial development, watershed planning and implementation and solid waste management.
Involvement of the central government in the JMA governance will be important, because first, Jakarta, the core of JMA, is the national capital; and second, the physical infrastructure development in the JMA will need huge financial resources, beyond the capabilities of all provincial and regional administrations in the metropolitan area.
Therefore, the most suitable governance model for JMA is a mixed model, in which central, provincial and regional governments play very important roles in the governance of the region, in line with Law No. 29/2007.
However, the establishment of BKSP as a mixed model for governance institution for the JMA would be most effective if it is given a legal basis in a law for itself. This model will also enable the development of the principle of subsidiarity, that is, which level of government might be best to undertake certain functions, including the central, provincial and regional administrations, making more transparent and accountable governance possible, which in turn could work to positively engage interested stakeholders, particularly NGOs and private sectors.
The “New BKSP” should be given the authority to plan and develop major structures of physical infrastructure for the whole, notably for transportation systems, spatial development, watershed management and solid waste management, while the provincial and regional administrations need to cede their authority over the above functions, but still retain their authority on local administration.
This would imply that the “New BKSP”, as a metropolitan authority, will need central government’s involvement in it, and should be in charge only of planning, implementation and monitoring of major infrastructure development for the JMA.
However, it does not mean to create new level of government, but to enhance and empower the ‘New BKSP’ within the corridor allowed by the new Law on Regional Administrations and Law of Status of Jakarta as the National Capital City and to ensure suitability to socioeconomic, geographical and political condition of the JMA.
With a new law on fiscal decentralization, provincial administrations of Jakarta, West Java and Banten and 11 regional administrations in the JMA are supposed to have more financial resources from the central government to help finance BKSP activities. With regard to other local government administration functions, the BKSP should only conduct coordination, as the real authority remains with the local government.
The writer is a professor at the School of Architecture, Planning, and Policy Development at the Bandung Institute of Technology. The article is an excerpt of a paper published in the Public Administration and Development Journal.
