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 seeking full autonomy
The city administration is seeking full-autonomy status as the countryâs capital city, to ensure that infrastructure development runs effectively
Change Size
T
he city administration is seeking full-autonomy status as the country's capital city, to ensure that infrastructure development runs effectively.
Acting governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said that the city administration aimed to propose a revision of Law No. 29/2007 on Jakarta's special status as the capital of Indonesia to the House of Representatives.
'[The idea] is good. Let's say we want to pave Jl. Grogol [West Jakarta]. [We can't just do that because] it belongs to the central government. Jl. Daan Mogot, the Old Town area and railway stations are all overseen by the central government. A lot of cultural buildings also belong to the central government. We have to sit together to discuss these issues,' he told reporters after a forum to discuss Law No. 29/2007 at City Hall on Tuesday.
'As Prolegnas [National Legislation Program] 2015 has been set, maybe we can propose the revision for 2016 or 2017,' he said.
Ahok hoped that the central government's assets in Jakarta could be controlled by the city administration to expedite infrastructure development.
He pointed out several city projects, including the Old Town makeover and the electronic road pricing (ERP) system that is expected to be applied in 2015, that were hampered by the issue.
'Many historical buildings in the Old Town have been abandoned. Most cultural buildings in Menteng, Central Jakarta, belong to the central government as well. The city can manage those buildings. Jl. Gatot Subroto also belongs to the central government,' he said.
The ERP system is expected to be applied along Jl. Gatot Subroto, which crosses from West Jakarta to South Jakarta, and other thoroughfares such as Jl. MH Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. HR Rasuna Said.
Ahok said that the revision of the law would also give the administration space to improve its bureaucratic reform programs.
'We can directly hire employees and we can even employ professionals to fill echelon-II posts with the city administration. We can easily replace mediocre bureaucrats,' Ahok said.
The 2007 law on Jakarta's special status stipulates that the city administration has regional autonomy to manage all administrative matters except for foreign, defense, security, monetary, national fiscal and religious affairs, as well as other matters that are overseen by the central government as regulated by the law. Meanwhile, the city administration can assist the central government should the latter give the former the authority to do so.
The city administration is authorized to create policies on spatial planning, natural resources, environment, civil registration and control, transportation, industry, trade and tourism.
Assistant to the city's secretary for administration affairs Mara Oloan Siregar said that the law had yet to elaborate on the details of the city administration's authority.
'We don't have direct control over national roads such as Jl. Gatot Subroto, roads connecting the capital to the harbor, since the harbors are under the jurisdiction of the central government so we are
not authorized to repair them,' he said.
' JP/Sita W. Dewi
