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Weekly 5: 2014 yearender highlights

The year 2014 presented issues that are almost Jakarta’s template problems, like transportation, floods and evictions, but there have been new things, like the ushering in of the new governor and later his deputy and the heightened political tension inside the City Council and between some councilors and Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama

The Jakarta Post
Fri, December 26, 2014

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Weekly 5: 2014 yearender highlights

T

em>The year 2014 presented issues that are almost Jakarta'€™s template problems, like transportation, floods and evictions, but there have been new things, like the ushering in of the new governor and later his deputy and the heightened political tension inside the City Council and between some councilors and Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama. Here are the highlights:

City Council politics

The city administration for more than three months saw no sign of work from the newly inaugurated city councilors, as they continuously delayed nominating commission heads and members. The councilors went into a prolonged deadlock as the factions were in constant disagreement over nominating commission chairpersons and deputies.

Soon after inauguration, the council '€” which consists of 106 members from 10 parties and 9 factions '€” are supposed to form five commissions: Commission A overseeing governance, Commission B the economy, Commission C finance, Commission D development and Commission E people'€™s welfare.

The commissions were finally formed on Dec. 8, more than three months after the inauguration on Aug. 25. The councilors, meanwhile, blamed one another for the deadlock. '€œThe problem is that parties are scrambling to snatch commission chairmanships. This is something that they must resolve,'€ City Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi had said.

Evictions

JP/P.J. Leo

This year, the Jakarta administration has rendered more than 13,000 residents homeless and caused thousands of others to lose their businesses as part of its flood mitigation program and to secure order in some places.

The Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) found that 19 out of 26 evictions undertaken in 2014 were carried out without any prior notice or negotiations with the victims.

The city not only targeted squatters, but also kicked out many street vendors by running a series of evictions at the National Monument (Monas) and the Mangga Besar Station in Central Jakarta, as well as in other areas considered the favorite places for street vendors to peddle their goods.

Governorship

The year 2014 was extraordinary not only for Indonesian citizens in general because of the general elections, but particularly for Jakarta residents, who saw arguably their most dynamic and boisterous change of governorship in decades. It also set a milestone for the development of tolerance in Jakarta, which represents the pluralistic Indonesia, as Ahok became the first Chinese-descent governor of the capital.

His ascent to the number one post in the capital was met with protests from Muslim hardliners who are opposed to being led by a non-Muslim. In response to this, many Muslims have shown their support to Ahok, paving the way for him to become the governor.

Later, Ahok chose former Blitar mayor, Djarot Saiful Hidayat as his deputy.

Transportation

The city administration is showing some progress in its effort to build public transportation infrastructure with the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle (Bundaran HI) in Central Jakarta.

The city also transferred the operation of Transjakarta buses from the Transportation Agency to the newly formed city-owned bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta). Although the company will officially take over the operation early next year, it has already done some improvements like re-implementing the electronic ticketing system and procuring new buses.

The electronic road pricing (ERP) program, however, has been delayed until next year.

Flood mitigation

Tens of thousands of squatters occupying riverbanks or reservoir lands across the capital were evicted in 2013 and 2014 to make way for flood mitigation projects.

When the rains came, however, flood-prone areas in West, North, East and South Jakarta, including Pesanggrahan, Kampung Melayu, Pangadegan and Bidara Cina, were still inundated by water to various depths.

This year, the central government launched what it said was the first part of the controversial giant sea wall (GSW) project, or the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) program, which was initiated by then governor Fauzi Bowo. The project included a reclamation project, the development of 17 artificial islets off the capital'€™s north coast and the construction of a 32-kilometer embankment along the coast of Jakarta. '€” JP

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