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City bows to protest app use rule
Blocked: A Qlue crowdsourcing app user checks a resident’s report on a clogged drain on Wednesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Blocked: A Qlue crowdsourcing app user checks a resident’s report on a clogged drain on Wednesday. The city administration says it has decided to hold back on the implementation of a gubernatorial decree that requires neighborhood and community unit heads to file reports using the app three times a day.(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
Amid opposition from neighborhood and community unit (RT/RW) heads, the city administration has decided to hold back the implementation of a gubernatorial decree obliging RT/RW heads to make reports through crowd-sourced public complaint application Qlue.
“We ceased to apply the decree in June due to the protests,” acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono said in a recent interview.
Sumarsono admitted that the platform was previously used by the city administration to gather reports from the public to help monitor city officials.
However, the city decided to postpone to use of the app for RT/RW heads to report issues in their areas as regulated by Gubernatorial Decree No. 903/2016.
Sumarsono argued that the obligation of RT/RW heads was problematic since, “they are not our employees. They work on a voluntarily basis.”
In April, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama required all RT/RW heads to report their activities through Qlue at least three times a day in order for them to get the monthly operational payment of Rp 950,000 (US$71.25) and Rp 1.5 million for each RT/RW head, respectively. They would also earn an additional Rp 10,000 per report on Qlue.
Qlue is a mobile phone app set up by the Jakarta administration to accommodate complaints and requests from Jakartans. Residents can report their complaints about traffic, damaged roads, floods, garbage pile-ups, city hospital services or other public services via the app. The reports are mapped digitally and integrated with the smartcity.Jakarta.go.id website and another app, the Public Opinion Rapid Response (CROP) app, in which Ahok has required all city officials to install on their mobile phones in order to access complaints first hand.
The policy, however, was rejected by RT/RW heads, saying that it disgraced their voluntary work.
Ahok responded to the protest by telling them to resign should they refuse to abide by the regulation, dismissing that RT/RW heads are elected by residents to take care of administrative issues.
Separately, City Councilor Syarif of Commission A overseeing administrative affairs, cited that the policy was in line with the council’s recommendation.
“We have met with the RT/RW heads and we came to a decision on the revocation of the regulation,” Syarif said.
He added that the commission would draft a bylaw to regulate the RT/RW election and RT/RW responsibilities.
“Their roles are usually regulated in a gubernatorial decree. They need a stronger legal basis. Therefore, we want to make a bylaw,” he said, adding that he aims to complete the draft in April.
Meanwhile, Rahman, 52, an RT head in Grogol Utara subdistrict in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, welcomed the revocation of the obligation.
“We have been required to report three times a day but sometimes nothing is worth reporting throughout an entire day,” Rahman said.
Rahman, however, admitted that Qlue was helpful and easy to use as he only needed to capture objects or incidents and upload the reports to the app, adding that he could report up to six times per day if he received many complaints from residents.
According to Rahman, the city administration has been responsive to following up on complaints. One clogged drainage report was addressed by workers from the City Sanitation Agency within a couple of days.
“I presume the administration would heed the complaints based on their priority list,” he said.
Another Qlue user, Amy, a resident of Pesanggrahan in West Jakarta, said that the administration had made the right decision to annul the regulation.
“Sometimes, several unimportant matters come in reports since all RT/RW heads are required to report three times a day,” Amy said.
Even though the local administration will not make the reports mandatory anymore, Amy believes that RT/RW heads would keep submitting reports if necessary.
Besides, many residents are familiar with smartphones and mobile applications, which will help RT/RW heads, who might be too busy with their daily jobs to report incidents in their neighborhoods, Amy added.
