While Governor Joko âJokowiâ Widodo is known for his trademark blusukan (impromptu visit) approach, Deputy Governor Basuki âAhokâ Tjahaja Purnama has introduced a âhotline serviceâ to get closer to the people
hile Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is known for his trademark blusukan (impromptu visit) approach, Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has introduced a 'hotline service' to get closer to the people.
Ahok has made his personal phone numbers, 0811944728, 081927666999 and 085811291966, public since day one and encourages Jakarta residents to send their complaints to them. He even promises that he will read and respond to the complaints.
Social media has been abuzz recently with Jakarta residents sharing their experiences of sending complaints to Ahok's numbers.
Andari Karina recounted how she told Ahok about broken street lamps in her neighborhood in Tebet, South Jakarta.
'The street lamps were installed six months after Jokowi and Ahok assumed their posts. About a month ago, the lamps were broken after being struck by lightning. The street was dark every night and it was prone to street crime. I reported to Ahok's number on 085811291966 three days ago and today officers from a city agency came to my house, saying that they had received my report and had fixed the lights,' she said.
'I am usually skeptical about this kind of hotline number announced by public officials. But I was touched. This is the first time I feel like the government actually exists for us,' she added.
She concluded her message by saying, 'this is my governor. Where is your governor?'
Speaking to reporters while signing a pile of documents on his desk recently, Ahok said that he had delegated the task to his team.
'On work days, my staff members will respond to the complaints on my behalf. When they are not sure about how to respond they ask me and I tell them what to say and they type and send it for me. They already know how to answer
routine problems,' he said, adding that the response would include forwarding the messages to the relevant agencies.
'Residents usually send another message when the problem is solved or not yet solved so I know the progress. When they complain because there's no response from the city I just scold the agency head,' he said, laughing.
After working hours on weekdays or at the weekend, Ahok will make time to read the messages himself.
'My wife usually helps me with that. I set the autotext on my smartphones so I can type very fast,' he said.
However, not every resident is lucky enough to get a response from Ahok.
Ahok's personal assistant, Sakti Budiono, said they received hundreds to thousands of messages on a daily basis.
'We receive at least 300 messages a day. The record was 2,000 messages in one day. The current three BlackBerry smartphones are third generation ' the previous gadgets broke down from the heavy workload,' he said.
'It seems like we'll have to replace the current smartphones again as there have recently been technical glitches,' Sakti said.
Sakti added that most complaints were related to infrastructure problems.
'The Public Works Agency gets the most jobs,' he said.
While most Jakartans make good use of the contacts, others try their luck at solving personal problems. Or simply trying to get the deputy governor's attention.
'We often receive irrelevant messages, for example, we get a lot of messages saying that they have been single for too long and asking for help from Ahok,' Sakti said. 'Of course we don't respond to such messages.'
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