TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Pontianak ranks high for transparency

West Kalimantan’s provincial capital, Pontianak, scored highest in the top-10 cities nationally for periodic information disclosure displayed through the municipal administration website, according to a study conducted by the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA)

Severianus Endi (The Jakarta Post)
Pontianak
Fri, September 27, 2013

Share This Article

Change Size

Pontianak ranks high for transparency

W

est Kalimantan'€™s provincial capital, Pontianak, scored highest in the top-10 cities nationally for periodic information disclosure displayed through the municipal administration website, according to a study conducted by the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA).

FITRA, in cooperation with the West Kalimantan Representation and Analysis Forum for Budget Transparency (FAKTA), presented the results of the study in Pontianak on Thursday. They conducted a study on the implementation of transparency of financial management in 113 regencies and municipalities in five provinces in the country.

Besides West Kalimantan, home to 14 regencies and municipalities, the study was also carried out in four other provinces; East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Aceh, North Sumatra and Central Java.

'€œThe study was carried out to look for good governance carried out by regional administrations in promoting financial transparency in the provinces,'€ West Kalimantan FAKTA coordinator Didik Suprapta told The Jakarta Post.

The study, which was carried out by online tracking of regional administrations from June to September this year, assessed three components '€” profile information of regional administrations, information programs, activities and budgets, as well as information service systems provided by the administrations.

FITRA'€™s National Advocacy Secretariat coordinator, Muhammad Maulana, said in terms of periodic information transparency, two cities in West Kalimantan '€” Pontianak and Singkawang '€” were included in the top 10, together with Semarang and Surakarta, Kebumen, Pekalongan, Jepara, Klaten and Sragen regencies in Central Java and Labuhan Batu regency in North Sumatra.

'€œAlthough Pontianak ranks top followed by Singkawang in terms of periodic information transparency, in reality they are far from ideal. The highest rating is only supported by the availability of periodic information and profiles of public entities, while information from the regional budget components remain insufficient,'€ said Maulana.

On the score from 0 to 100, Pontianak scored 63 points for the periodic information transparency. Overall, the 14 regencies and municipalities in West Kalimantan are regarded as inadequate in budget information as well as information on governance. Maulana said six regions in the province failed to provide information on their organization'€™s website profile.

Whereas not a single piece of information was found on the websites of Sambas, Landak, Kubu Raya and Bengkayang regencies, while nine regions have published goods and services procurement auctions via electronic procurement.

'€œThis indicates the mandate of the Public Information Disclosure Law has not been implemented. The House of Representatives'€™ Ministerial to enhance regional budget management transparency has also not been heeded,'€ said Maulana.

In line with a House Ministerial Instruction from May, 2012, regional administrations should publicize budgetary information through their websites by providing a special menu on regional budgetary management transparency.

Despite that, Maulana said the regional administration had provided the data in other media, such as pamphlets, leaflets, banners and billboards; thus it had not been detected.

As for Pontianak, West Kalimantan FAKTA member Lim Kheng Sia said that based on the assessment of 27 provincial agencies (SKPD), only three of them had responded to requests for information from researchers.

'€œEvery SKPD is still hesitant to provide information to the public, especially on budgets,'€ said Lim.

Separately, Pontianak Mayor Sutarmidji said it was not possible to implement public information transparency at once, but every item the public must know about would be uploaded on the website gradually.

'€œSome say we are reluctant to provide budget documents. Now, let me ask you, what is the purpose of the documents? We cannot hand them all to you,'€ said Sutarmidji.

An economic observer in Pontianak, Maran, said in general the transparency correlated proportionally with efficiency in managing all resources.

'€œWith less fund leakage, more funds can be used to improve the quality and quantity of development, including spurring the economy,'€ said Maran, lecturer at the Widya Dharma Economic Academy in Pontianak.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.