Managed by the Jakarta Smart City (JSC) unit in the city administration, Qlue was introduced by then-governor Basuki “BTP” Tjahaja Purnama in 2014 in a bid to better serve residents. Through the app, residents would only need to file complaints related to public services for them to be sent to the relevant working units.

Besides Qlue, JSC also oversees all other complaint channels, namely the administration's official Facebook and Twitter accounts, the "Balai Warga" section of jakarta.go.id, email address dki@jakarta.go.id, an SMS hotline at +628111272206 and the LAPOR! (report) SMS at 1706.

Offline channels are also available for members of the public to complain at city district offices, in the City Hall lobby, the Jakarta Inspectorate office and through letters to the governor, all of which are logged into the JSC's citizen relationship manager (CRM) system that aggregates the data for analysis.

In July, Qlue received the most complaints with 12,019, followed by Twitter with 1,162, Facebook with 312, LAPOR! SMS at 1706 with 280, district offices with 246, via email with 227, SMS hotline at +628111272206 with 78 and Balai Warga with 24.

The number of complaints through the app had declined significantly since Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan took office in October 2017. Qlue, which previously earned praise from residents for its quick response, used to get about 1,000 complaint reports per day.

JSC management head Billy Alkadia said Qlue and the online channels were not the only main channels as the city administration had also opened offline ones.

“Not just through Qlue [are complaints received] but also face-to-face, such as by coming into a district office,” Billy said on Thursday.

He said that the JSC was also currently developing new ways for residents to not only lodge complaints, but also to collaborate with the city to improve government services.

“Our orientation now is not just receiving complaints, but in a 4.0 city-level development residents will be invited to collaborate hand in hand for better government service and Jakarta Smart City will serve as the hub,” Billy said.

The administration launched the BERiDE website last year. It encourages residents to share their ideas regarding developments in the capital city. The website, jakarta.beride.id, aimed to complement Qlue.

Lodging complaints through social media and Qlue may have become part of daily city life, but residents do not always track their complaints afterwards.

Ramson Pieter, 52, an employee for a private company living in Pondok Kopi, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, tweeted about a damaged ceiling light at the Slipi Petamburan Transjakarta bus stop footbridge in West Jakarta.

Several city agencies’ social media accounts responded to Ramson's tweet, including @DKIJakarta, @PT_TransJakarta, @BinaMargaDKI and @DinasPemel.

“If there are any complaints, they should be responded to and fixed within the same day,” Ramson said.

Kemang, South Jakarta resident Devby Mohamad Rizal, 27, also claimed that he was a regular on the Qlue app in the past year and has filed up to 13 complaints via the app. He said some were resolved while others were not.

Devby said he also expected a quick response because a complaint should be addressed within the same day, as soon as possible.

He said the last complaint he lodged was about illegal parking that he spotted on Jl. Bangka in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.

“If a resident's complaint could not be resolved, they should have told us why,” Devby said.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Edy Priyono who lives in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta said he had once sent a complaint via text message and email about street lights on Jl. Benyamin Sueb in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta but only received information about his complaint without further follow-up.

“A lot of the street lights have died or are too dim. I emailed and only received the ID number of my complaints,” Edy said.

Billy of the JSC said the ID numbers that Edy and other residents received after lodging complaints were the numbers of the reports within the JSC's citizen relationship manager system, which managed the complaints and forwarded them to the relevant units in the administration.

For residents to get updates on their reports, Billy said the city had actually provided information in which residents could track the status of their complaints in real time on pengaduanwarga.jakarta.go.id/report/.

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