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Discourse: Governor Anies’ first year: Focused on gaining trust

Anies Baswedan (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)As the leader of Indonesia’s capital, where all chronic problems are intertwined and complicated, Governor Anies Baswedan says he has been doing a good job

The Jakarta Post
Fri, October 19, 2018

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Discourse: Governor Anies’ first year: Focused on gaining trust

Anies Baswedan (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)

As the leader of Indonesia’s capital, where all chronic problems are intertwined and complicated, Governor Anies Baswedan says he has been doing a good job. In an interview with The Jakarta Post, the former education minister discussed his first year in office since his inauguration on Oct. 26, 2017, following a heated gubernatorial election. The following are excerpts from the interview conducted at City Hall with the Post’s Evi Mariani, Irawaty Wardany and Vela Andapita.

 Question: In your first speech after being inaugurated as Jakarta governor, you said that “pribumi [indigenous Indonesians] should be the masters in our own land.”  It sparked concern as some people perceived that you had set a tone for your leadership that was divisive and promoted segregation according to ethnic and religions lines. Your comment?

Answer: I wrote that speech by myself. The word was taken out of context. I was referring to pribumi during the colonial era. I always say, if people want to know what’s inside my head, just see what has been done based on what I’ve said. Don’t keep guessing and accusing me of this or that.

Many people who dislike you bully you on social media. Does it affect your work?

It’s OK. I’m not asking you to like me. Instead, I’m asking you to help Jakarta. You may continue to dislike me. Even the prophets, the most noble human beings God ever created, had plenty of haters. If there was Twitter back in their era, they would have gotten headaches too. Ha ha ha.

I don’t have problems with people hating and criticizing me, as long as they don’t lose their objectivity and bring their institution into it. When someone, for example, criticizes me personally on certain things, that’s fine. But once he or she expresses it while representing the organization or company they work for, then it becomes a problem.

How do you think you’ve done in your first year?

It was clear from the beginning that I aim to bring unity to this city through social justice. Take my policy on revoking the motorcycle ban on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin.

I knew that many people would lambast me for doing so, but what they don’t understand is that the roads are among the city’s and the country’s economic drivers. I want [the roads] to impact and connect people from all walks of life. The [city] data reveals around 480,000 motorcycle delivery drivers use these roads every day. Where are they from? Of course this includes small home-based businesses throughout the city.

When deliberating programs, we think seriously about who gets what. That’s why during my first year in office, I translated my campaign pledges into a five-year plan (RPJMD) and estimated how much money I would need to realize them and who they would target.

You have been working solo for a while without a deputy. How do you feel?

As far as I know, the political process is still ongoing. [Deciding who will replace former deputy governor Sandiaga Uno after he became a vice-presidential candidate for the 2019 presidential election] is not merely administrational. It’s political and it takes time.

I sometimes find it troublesome if, for example, there is an event that requires me to represent the city. […] I used to be able to do a lot of other things while delegating many invitations to my then deputy.

Is the city’s OK Oce program to nurture entrepreneurs still continuing? We haven’t seen any significant progress since last year.

OK Oce is a new thing, don’t expect it to be successful overnight. The city, as facilitator, provides the location, while the mentors, non-civil servants who are experienced entrepreneurs, conduct the entrepreneurship program. That way, people know where to go if they want to learn and start a business.

Our main challenge is that we started the program in 44 districts all at once. Each one of them faces different problems and focuses on different [sectors], depending on the business opportunities in the area and the [experience and expertise of the] mentors. Some focus on service, some others focus on retail.

What we’re doing with OK Oce is facilitating entrepreneurs to enter the formal sector. As they establish their businesses, they must also complete certain documents to obtain their NPWP [tax numbers] and company registration numbers.

You have just launched the promised zero-down payment housing program in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta. Do you plan to duplicate the program in other places?


I will not duplicate the program as it is. What I did [with the Klapa Village] was to gain trust from people. Many doubted the program before it was launched, but it surprised me that during the launch event, many companies, state-owned and private, approached me and offered to join in the program.

In the program, we’re only making the financing scheme. The city gathers and selects the candidate home owners and helps them with the financing, while the developers will only have to build the houses. As long as the city, the developers and the buyers agree on the price, I believe more developers will want to join.

What about landed houses in the kampungs that you handle under the Community Action Plan (CAP)?

There’s no single answer to solve land ownership issues in Jakarta. It depends on how long they have occupied the land, why they live there, the latest status of the land, etc.

Thus, my priority is to build vertical residencies in which people can rent or buy homes through the zero-down payment program. People [will] move there and then we handle the land ownership.

Will you issue land certificates for kampung residents?

It depends, I first need to check the legal aspects of each case. The point is, the city can no longer implement programs through coercion. People have scars [from the previous administration under Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama]. We should do it with a different approach to regain their trust.

There are at least four parties that should be involved in discussing any problem: the people, the administration, the experts and the facilitators. First, we should listen to the people’s problems and hopes. Then the experts should come with options for solutions. The facilitators should help until an agreement is reached.

Is it effective? Yes. We’ve used this approach to discuss solutions for our traffic problems. That’s how we got Jak Lingko [the city’s integrated public transportation network]. It wasn’t easy talking with the angkot [public minivan] operators who once hated us. But then through a number of discussions over three months, for the first time ever, these angkot operators agreed to work with the administration.

We assured the drivers that the program was aimed at improving their welfare, maintaining their vehicles and increasing their passenger numbers. Again, the point is to gain their trust first.

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