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sers of smartphone app Qlue, which was developed by the city administration for Jakartans to file complaints, recently expressed increased satisfaction with the app, saying the response time had improved from a few weeks ago.

Only days after incumbent governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama took leave to campaign for reelection on Oct. 28, Jakartans reportedly complained about a decline in response quality from officials to complaints filed through the app.

But users of the app recently suggested that Qlue’s service quality had returned to normal.

“Some time ago, it would take more than a week for the administration to respond to complaints [submitted via the app], but now, it takes less than a day for users to receive a response,” Abimanyu, head of a neighborhood unit (RT) in Pesanggrahan, South Jakarta, said on Tuesday.

As a neighborhood unit head, Abimanyu is required to convey complaints from residents using the app.

Ahok had instructed neighborhood unit and community unit heads to submit at least three complaints through Qlue every day.

If they do not comply with the regulation, they do not receive their monthly operational funds.

On average, Abimanyu said he submitted 20 complaints per day. “During holidays, I submit up to 50 complaints a day because the more time residents spend at home, the more problems arise in the neighborhood,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that most of the problems were related to waste.

“Many complaints were about people dumping garbage into rivers,” he said

He recalled submitting a complaint about faulty street lights. He said city officials fixed the lights on the same day.

“It used to take several days for them to respond to similar problems,” he said.

A Qlue user who identified himself as Phenk also said his complaints had been responded to quickly. “It took one day for them to respond,” said the resident of Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, who frequently complained about traffic congestion and illegal levies.

He said he filed a complaint about unofficial traffic attendants, locally known as Pak Ogah, operating in Tanjung Duren Utara, West Jakarta, on Monday. As of Tuesday, no more Pak Ogah were seen at the location.

Jakarta Smart City working unit technical chief Setiaji said Qlue’s response time had improved significantly to eight hours in November from 171 hours in January because the unit had deployed more workers.

“Currently there are up to 70 contract employees in every subdistrict,” he said.

The city administration launched Qlue in December 2014 as way for Jakartans to report problems in their neighborhoods, Users can also monitor progress or show support for an uploaded problem.

Qlue currently has 500,000 users, with an average 9,000 reports each day, Setiaji said, adding that around 80 percent of reports received had been followed up. (vny)