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ozens of community units (RW) and neighborhood units (RT) heads have reportedly rejected an instruction to report conditions in their respective areas daily through Qlue, the city monitoring administration’s mobile-phone application.

Agus Iskandar, the head of RW 12 in Kebon Melati subdistrict, Central Jakarta, acknowledged he was under threat of dismissal by the administration because he refused to report through Qlue.

“Dismissal is fine for me. I will have more freedom in my life,” Agus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He added that an incentive of Rp 10,000 (US 73 cents) for RT heads and Rp 12,500 for RW heads for each report submitted was humiliating.

“Most heads of RT and RW in Jakarta are businessmen. We voluntarily serve as heads,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kebon Melati subdistrict head Winetrin said on Sunday that RT and RW heads were not obliged to report three times a day.

“They need to report a maximum 90 times in a month, not three times in a day,” she told the Post.

On Thursday a delegation of RW and RT heads visited the city council and expressed their discontent at the city administration’s policy obliging them to report problems through the Android-based mobile phone application. They threatened to step down from their positions.

However, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama dismissed the issue and said that there was a misunderstanding. “Not all community leaders [are opposed to Qlue]. it’s because they still don’t understand,” Ahok said on Saturday in Setu Babakan, South Jakarta.

Ahok said that the reports through Qlue would show that they were working to serve and monitor their respective areas, as the city now applied performance-based assessment for salaries.

Reports through Qlue help the administration supervise the performance and accountability of RT and RW heads who respectively earn Rp 975,000 and Rp 1.2 million monthly.

“They don’t always have to report problems, they can submit good news as well,” Ahok said, adding that Qlue would also help the RT and RW heads report any wrongdoing committed by city officials.

Qlue was launched by the Jakarta administration to encourage its residents to submit complaints, including traffic congestion, damaged roads, floods, fires or waste disposal, garbage pile-ups, city hospital services or other public services through written or photo reports.

The reports are then digitally mapped and integrated with the smartcity.jakarta.go.id website and another application called the Public Opinion Rapid Response (CROP), which Ahok has urged all city officials to install to receive the complaints

Ahok claims the public are using the application to report problems in the city. Putri Annisa, a resident of Kebun Jeruk, reported a narrow sidewalk that was taken over by stores and offices. The administration reportedly responded and fixed the problem. (rez/fac)
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“Dismissal is fine for me. I will have more freedom in my life”