I

t seems that Jakarta’s governor candidates coming from outside the city are working their socks off to do their homework prior to the election, by getting out on the streets and researching the multitude of problems entangling the city.

Golkar Party politician and South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin said on Monday that he had walked through slum areas located on the city’s riverbanks many times to seek ways to improve the living conditions of residents.

“The question is how to clean up the areas without evicting the residents who have lived there for years, or even decades,” he said in a public discussion at Pullman Hotel in Jakarta.

According to him, the best solution would be to build low-cost apartments near the river and relocate the riverbanks’ residents into the buildings.

“Residents could buy rooms in the apartment buildings with soft loans and they would also be given jobs to help keep the river clean and hygienic,” Alex said.

He went on to promise free education and health services to all Jakartans within one day of his inauguration, should he be elected. “We can do this. I am not talking nonsense. I dare to speak this way because I have experience.”

During the occasion, Alex also revealed his plans to give homegrown soccer club Persija its own stadium. “In South Sumatra, even soccer clubs in small towns have their own stadiums.”

Alex went on to pledge a portion of the 2013 city budget to build a stadium for Persija, if he wins the election.

Persija had the Menteng Stadium as its home ground before it was torn down in 2006 to make way for Menteng Park. Since then, the club has been using the state-owned Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, South Jakarta, as a training ground.

Separately, another candidate, Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, took the commuter-line train from Tanah Abang station in Central Jakarta to Depok on Monday. He was on his way to the University of Indonesia to give a speech.

Online news portal tribunnews.com reported that Jokowi refused to take one of the seats during the trip and chose instead to stand. He reportedly chatted with other passengers and shared a few light moments with them. “By riding the train, I will try to create the ideal solution for mass transportation in Jakarta,” he said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Jokowi was also seen last week riding a Transjakarta bus serving the Blok M–Kota route.

According to him, if elected, he would develop a rail-bus system in Jakarta, similar to the one which has proven successful in his hometown of Surakarta, where he currently serves as mayor.

“If Transjakarta is replaced by the rail-bus, passengers won’t have to wait so long for buses,” he said, responding to a common complaint with the Transjakarta system.

Governor Fauzi Bowo, who is seeking reelection, said separately on Monday that the city had plans to develop a rail-bus system.

“Of course, we have considered the option [to develop the rail-bus in Jakarta]. However, we don’t have enough money to implement it,” Fauzi told reporters at City Hall.

He said the failure to establish a monorail system under a public-private partnership also factored in the ruling out of the rail-bus project, as he did not want to rely on private companies to build it. “I think it is better for everybody to study the system in Jakarta before saying anything. Don’t get trapped by empty promises or dreams that cannot be realized.” (riz)