J

span class="inline inline-left">Joko Widodo. JP/Ricky Yudhistira Joko Widodo '€” wildly popular as Jokowi '€” has been running the city administration in top gear since day one of his leadership in the capital, home to more than 10 million residents.

The city administration employs at least 75,000 civil servants and spends tens of trillions of budget allocated funds every year, however, until now residents have not seen a lot of results.

'€œIn order to realize programs and wisely use its overwhelming budget, the city administration should first reform its bureaucracy and place the right people in the right places. I once said that 60 percent of city high-ranking officials were incompetent. Pak Jokowi corrected me, saying that it must have been 80 percent,'€ The University of Indonesia public policy expert Andrinof Chaniago said in Jakarta recently.

To get an effective team, Jokowi and his bad-cop cohort deputy Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama introduced a series of bureaucratic-reform programs, including the open call to recruit subdistrict and district heads earlier this year.

Jokowi also rearranged the combination of his subordinates, removing or transferring officials within the first few months.

The former furniture entrepreneur demanded a high-speed change in work performance and it was no joke.

'€œIt is indeed tiring. We have been working at full speed over the past year. But I enjoyed it,'€ Energy and Industry Agency head Andi Baso told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Andi said that the city administration, under the leadership of Jokowi and Ahok, was like '€œhalf a private company'€ in terms of work attitude. '€œThe previous administration was very bureaucratic,'€ he cited.

East Jakarta Mayor Krisdianto felt the same way.

'€œIf we officials failed to keep up with the governor'€™s pace, we'€™ll be lost. There has been a tremendous change of attitude within the city administration,'€ he said.

Krisdianto understood that Jokowi had high expectations of him and other officials.

'€œThe governor only demanded that we respond to problems quickly. He said he didn'€™t need any loyalty whatsoever,'€ he pointed out.

Jakarta Public Works Agency head Manggas Rudy Siahaan, who was appointed in March to replace Ery Basworo who was transferred to the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency, acknowledged that Jokowi'€™s leadership style brought changes into the office.

'€œEverything is now very transparent. We can discuss almost everything; we can discover problems and respond to it immediately,'€ said Manggas, whose agency has been tasked with one of the governor'€™s priority programs.

'€œThere are only three words to describe the current administration: work, work and work,'€ he added.

Manggas believed that the upcoming introduction of the e-catalog, which enables the city administration to carry out direct procurement, would even expedite the agency'€™s work speed.

Two-way communication between Jokowi-Ahok and their agency heads was deemed as a factor that made their programs work.

'€œWe are very comfortable working with them, the communication has become fluid. My unit gives its full support,'€ Administrative Building and Housing Agency head Yonathan Pasodung said.

Changes in bureaucracy had apparently affected the relationship of the executive and legislative.

Wanda Hamidah, member of City Council'€™s Commission E overseeing administrative affairs, acknowledged that communication processes between the city administration and the council had been improved.

'€œPak Jokowi and Pak Ahok are both very open, both with the public and the council. We often meet directly and discuss things '€” our relationship is very harmonious. It didn'€™t happen during the previous administration. [Then governor] Pak Fauzi Bowo often sent his personal assistant to meet with City Council speaker, who also sent his assistant, whereas the two came from the same political party,'€ said the National Mandate Party (PAN) politician.