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New governance key to Jakarta once capital moves, experts says
Following the announcement of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s plan to relocate the country’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan by 2024, many have wondered what will happen to Jakarta without its special status
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span>Following the announcement of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s plan to relocate the country’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan by 2024, many have wondered what will happen to Jakarta without its special status.
While officials claim there has yet to be an in-depth discussion on the future of Jakarta, experts have offered suggestions for the ideal governance structure for the city of 10 million inhabitants that continues to be marred by traffic congestion, air pollution and waste management issues.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the fate of Jakarta’s special autonomy lay in the hands of the central government.
“We don’t know yet what the term for Jakarta will be, but the discussion on special autonomy is ongoing,” he told reporters recently.
Jakarta has enjoyed special autonomy status as the special capital region, called Daerah Khusus Ibukota, as stipulated in a 2007 law on Jakarta as the capital city.
The Home Ministry's acting regional autonomy director general, Akmal Malik, said the ministry was waiting for the House of Representatives and the government to further discuss the content of a draft bill that will be proposed for deliberation as part of the relocation plan.
“There has yet to be a deliberation [regarding Jakarta’s status]. It is still too early to discuss it,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Akmal added that the ministry had asked for suggestions from Anies in regards to improving the Capital City Law.
City councilor Pantas Nainggolan from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that last year the city administration and the city council had discussed suggestions on how to “perfect” the prevailing regulation on the capital’s economic status, as per the House’s request. However, these discussion did not have any connection with the relocation of the capital at the time, he said.
Pantas explained that the feedback the city had provided to the House included maintaining single autonomy at the provincial level and a commitment to accelerating cooperation on problems across regions.
“One of the urgent issues is coordination between Jakarta and its satellite cities. For instance, curbing traffic congestion requires strong cooperation. Jakarta must have better management. Things like that need to be further discussed,” he said.
Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) executive director Robert Endi Jaweng said the capital relocation would not result in the city’s special status being revoked.
“What is significant for Jakarta is not the specific status as the country’s capital city but as the center of the economy. Based on its economic size and megalopolitan character, the city is highly worthy of being a special region,” he said.
Robert argued that as the city had a strong connection with its surrounding areas, expanding Jakarta to become a new "Greater Jakarta" province would likely boost the city’s development.
He suggested that the new province should include Jakarta’s satellite cities of Bekasi and Depok in West Java and Tangerang and South Tangerang in Banten.
“Cooperation is needed across regions based on shared needs. There will not be effective cooperation without special region status,” he said.
Robert also said even without its capital status, the single autonomy Jakarta currently had must remain in place.
Unlike other provinces, regional elections in Jakarta are only conducted to appoint the governor.
The Jakarta governor has the sole authority to appoint city civil servants as mayors and regents of the city’s six administrative areas, whereas in other provinces, regional elections are also held to elect mayors and regents.
The mayors of Depok and Bekasi recently said they would prefer for their administrative areas to become part of Jakarta rather than become part a “Greater Bogor” province proposed by Bogor Mayor Bima Arya.
However, Robert highlighted that merging Jakarta and its satellite cities would require a long political process, citing that West Java and Banten provinces might be unwilling to give up the areas to Jakarta.
The "middle way", he suggested, was through mixed autonomy, in which the governor would still be able to appoint mayors and regents but where the leaders of each satellite city would be elected through a regional election.
“The central government should not decide haphazardly. It has to explain the argument with a grand design,” he said.
Jakarta is already a megacity that requires better governance through reformed institutions, according to University of Indonesia autonomy expert Irfan Ridwan Maksum.
“Jakarta cannot be managed by continuing business as usual. It needs to be managed by an organization that runs like a company,” he said, citing the examples of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and New York City.
He added that the central government should have started deliberations of a draft bill on better governance of metropolises.
