Less than a week prior to the handover of the Jakarta administration, Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, the last man standing in the reign of three governors during the past five years in the capital, is still busy working
ess than a week prior to the handover of the Jakarta administration, Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, the last man standing in the reign of three governors during the past five years in the capital, is still busy working.
Instead of making a comfortable victory lap to conclude his tenure, Djarot has spent his last weeks at City Hall speeding up the completion of the programs that he began with his predecessor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.
Ahok was inaugurated governor in 2014 to replace Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who had previously won the presidential election. Djarot, Ahok’s former deputy governor, has led the administration since June when the latter was jailed for blasphemy.
On Tuesday evening, Djarot officially inaugurated 100 child-friendly integrated public spaces (RPTRA), the signature program of Ahok-Djarot, at the National Monument (Monas) compound in Gambir in Central Jakarta.
The city already had 186 RPTRA spread across five municipalities and one regency.
The 100 new public spaces were previously set to be finished by the end of this year, but the construction of the projects was expedited so that they could be inaugurated before governor-elect Anies Baswedan was inaugurated on Oct. 16.
“Pak Jokowi, Pak Basuki and I cannot be separated from one another. I took over their responsibilities, so if there are any of their works unfinished, it is my duty to finish them because I am the last man standing,” Djarot said.
Supported by the main opposition parties, Anies and his running mate businessman Sandiaga Uno secured 58 percent of the vote in April to defeat the Ahok-Djarot ticket, which was backed by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Behind all the praise and congratulatory remarks by Djarot, there lurked an air of anxiety that the incoming governor would not continue what was started by the trio of governors.
Djarot admitted that there were flaws in the current programs, but he hoped Anies-Sandiaga would complete their unfinished programs.
“We will be watching, and remember, the PDI-P is the largest faction in the Jakarta Legislative Council,” he said.
During their campaign in the Jakarta election, Anies-Sandiaga attacked the major programs of then incumbents Ahok-Djarot.
They rejected the Jakarta Bay reclamation project and the evictions of residents living on the city’s river banks.
On Sunday, Sandiaga said the incoming Jakarta leaders still rejected the reclamation despite Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan saying they had to obey the central government.
Last week, Djarot signed an agreement with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to intensify the implementation of transparent budgeting via the electronic budgeting (e-budgeting) system, which had been initiated by Jokowi and Ahok.
The signing of the cooperation was witnessed by deputy KPK chairman Basaria Panjaitan who insisted that the e-budgeting system would be continued under the leadership of Anies. “It is a must. It is among the points of cooperation signed today,” Basaria said.
Political observer Pangi Syarwi Chaniago praised Djarot for his work, but claimed it was Ahok who made the greater contribution to creating a transparent and accountable bureaucracy, as well as achieving a better administered Jakarta.
“It was kind of hard for Djarot to emulate Ahok’s enormous achievements,” Pangi said, citing Ahok’s significant programs to improve Jakarta.
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