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Oldest cities rank high in govt evaluation

Banjarbaru in South Kalimantan and Cimahi in West Java have made significant progress compared to other regions, according to the Home Ministry

Ridwan Max Sijabat (The Jakarta Post)
Fri, April 20, 2012

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Oldest cities rank high in govt evaluation

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anjarbaru in South Kalimantan and Cimahi in West Java have made significant progress compared to other regions, according to the Home Ministry.

They are the only two well-performing cities among 198 regencies and municipalities formed during the regional autonomy era.

Longer experience in public administration seems to have been a major factor. Banjarbaru was given administrative status as a city in 1966, while Cimahi received it in 1975. Their administrations were closely groomed by the central government, before being among the first official municipalities when regional autonomy became effective in 2001.

Today, both municipalities rank higher than other regions in a government evaluation conducted in April last year. The evaluations were based on good governance, competitiveness, public service and social welfare.

The two municipalities were identified as maintaining transparency in logistics procurement, providing adequate education and health facilities, and improving per capita income.

It is not clear whether leadership has always been one of the main factors in the cities' performances. Cimahi Mayor Itoc Tochija is not free of controversy.

Critics have accused him of only being able to absorb some 30 percent of the city budget, while others want to name him the city's "Father of Development".

Meanwhile, apart from a number of awards for Banjarbaru, mayor Ruzaidin Noor was among the regional leaders selected to join an executive training program at Harvard University in the United States last September.

The two municipal governments, which have won a number of awards and prizes at the national and provincial levels, have also launched their own “clean and green” programs.

In contrast, Paniai and Puncak Jaya, two regencies given administrative status in 1996 before officially becoming regencies in 2003, have not delivered much progress.

A low quality of human resources, security disturbances blamed on the Free Papua Movement (OPM), skyrocketing prices for basic commodities and corruption have hindered programs in education, health and transportation, good governance and social welfare.

The independent Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) said corruption was the main factor for the backwardness in low-performing regions — despite continuous training programs.

Robert Endi Jaweng, KPPOD’s manager of external affairs, cited the 2007 graft case that implicated the Paniai regent.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Monday that the performance of local administrations are particularly hampered by the fact that their governors, regents and mayors are in jail, serving time for corruption — or being investigated on graft charges. The ministry's data shows 173 regional heads — or a third of regional heads of 495 regencies and municipalities and 33 provinces — were being investigated as witnesses, suspects and defendants from 2004 to 2012.

Currently, 70 percent of them have become convicts, the Kompas daily reported Tuesday.

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