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n contrast to their poor performance, Jakarta City Councilors have focused their priorities on one bylaw they deem important to them: the one that will grant them salary increases.

The City Council combined two plenary meetings to deliberate a draft bylaw on their allowance increase on Thursday, in a bid to complete the deliberation by next month.

The deliberation was based on a 2017 Government Regulation on financial and administration authority of regional council leaders and members, signed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on June 2. The regulation allows all councilors and regional administrations to issue a bylaw regulating the former’s allowance increase. The regulation stipulates the bylaw must be issued within three months after the regulation was signed.

“The regulation states that the bylaw should be completed on Sept. 2, at the latest, but we will finish the bylaw by August,” Deputy Speaker Abraham “Lulung” Lunggana said.

The Councilors will hold five more plenary sessions to endorse the bylaw. The next session is scheduled to take place on July 24.

All nine factions expressed their agreement in passing the bylaw during Thursday’s meeting, which was also attended by Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat. The councilors argued that deliberation of the draft bylaw was needed to enhance their roles and responsibilities.

Ahmad Ruslan from the National Awakening Party (PKB) argued that “the increase of city budget should be directly proportional to the increase of city councilors’ welfare.”

He also said the City Council must be institutionally strong because they need to properly address the capital’s chronic problems, such as traffic congestion, flooding and poverty.

Meanwhile, Nasrullah from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) argued that deliberation of the draft bylaw was urgently needed because councilors’ income had not increased in 10 years.

City Council secretary Muhammad Yuliadi said previously that through the bylaw’s deliberation, city councilors could receive a raise of around 20 percent from their current salaries.

The City Council speakers receive around Rp 95 million (US$7,125) per month, while members receive around Rp 75 million per month.

Separately, City Secretary Saefullah said he supported the councilors’ allowance increase on the back of hopes that the councilors’ performance would increase
as well.

The city administration allocated Rp 8 billion in this year’s revised budget (APBD-P) for the salary increase.

The councillors’ high hopes of passing the salary increase bylaw comes in contrast to their performance. Of the 32 draft bylaws listed in this year’s city legislation program (Prolegda), the City Council has passed just two draft bylaws to the Home Affairs Ministry, which aim at regulating Jakarta’s libraries and archives.

The city councilors have yet to begin deliberations on the stalled merger plan of the city’s two water companies; sewage company PD PAL Jaya and water utility company PAM Jaya, into a single entity called Perumda Air Jakarta. Other important draft bylaws included in the 2017 Prolegda are the zoning of Jakarta’s coastal areas and small islands draft bylaw and the Jakarta north coast strategic area spatial planning bylaw, focused on the controversial reclamation projects in the Jakarta Bay.

The council’s duty to prepare the city budget has also been stalled after councilors refused to deliberate the city’s budget priorities (KUA-PPAS) for 2018 before deliberating the 2017’s revised City Budget (APBD-P).

Roy Salam of the Indonesia Budget Center (IBC) called for the councilors to significantly improve their performance. He also said the deliberation of the city’s budget priorities should be carried out in June and July this year, so that all of Jakarta’s working units could arrange their budgets in the third week of July, according to proper procedures.