T

he Jakarta legislative council has failed to meet its target by only passing 17 bylaws out of 26 drafted in 2013 because of various reasons, including a lack of cooperation with the administration.

Council deputy speaker Triwisaksana said on Monday one of the obstacles in passing the bylaws was coordination with the executive.

'€œBylaw drafts on outdoor advertisements and regional charges initiated by the council are still being held off by the administration while the draft on local administration organization was just submitted to the council two days ago,'€ he said.

Triwisaksana said the council and administration should improve their coordination to speed up bylaw
discussions.

'€œWe'€™re focusing on finishing the remaining bylaw drafts and the bylaw on environmental issues,'€
he said.

Triwisaksana said the council would only target 15 to 20 new bylaws this year as the members would end their terms in August, with the legislative election being conducted in April.

Among the essential bylaws passed this year were those on detailed spatial planning (RDTR) and zoning regulation, the one roof integrated service (PTSP), waste management, the establishment of the city-owned bus rapid transit operator PT Transjakarta and the 2013-2017 mid-term regional development plan (RPJMD).

Meanwhile, one of the important bylaw drafts not approved is the 2014 city budget.

The City Council should have approved the bylaw no later than Nov. 30 but it is delayed up to mid
January.

Council speaker Ferrial Sofyan previously said the delay was due to the increase in the city budget from Rp 50.1 trillion (US$4.1 billion) last year to Rp 69.7 trillion in 2014.

'€œWe need extra effort and time to discuss around 30,000 budget allocations before passing the bylaw,'€ he said.

Regarding the bylaw drafts passed, Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said he was confused as to why the City Council had failed to speed up the process.

'€œWhat kind of coordination [do we need]? We all know what is going on. What'€™s the problem? They only need to approve them,'€ he said, declining to elaborate.

Ahok said, however, he was glad most of the important bylaws had been passed.

'€œThe one we are still waiting for is a bylaw on the establishment of an agency of good service procurement,'€ he said.

The agency will later authorize all routine expenditure at the city administration. Ahok claimed it would ease the monitoring system and cut budget use.

Public policy expert Andrinof Chaniago considered the performance of the city council to be still low, with only 17 passed bylaws.

Andrinof said he understood that debate and disagreements were unavoidable in the bylaw discussion but the council could speed them up.

He gave an example of the 2014 city budget that had not been approved. '€œWe have not got a clear explanation why they have prolonged the discussion,'€ he said.

Andrinof said the council should respond to the draft quickly by giving clear reasons why budget allocations faced problems and how to solve them.

'€œShare that information with the public, so we will not be suspicious that they are merely looking for weaknesses in the budget draft and using it against the administration,'€ he said.

Andrinof said the City Council did not stand out in other roles, such as monitoring the administration'€™s performance.

'€œIf they went into the field and understood the roots of problems, they would have given more positive input to the city administration,'€ he said.

He added they could give input by spotting loopholes in bylaws and initiating the revisions.

Andrinof said, however, that he considered the relationship between the council and the administration was improving, especially in terms of the leaders.

'€œHowever, their relationship is merely political and we lack concrete cooperation,'€ he said.