TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Two years into Anies' term still room for improvement
With two years in office behind him, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan claims that Jakarta is a better city under his administration, but city councillors and experts say there are many things that Anies has to achieve in order to prove his leadership qualities
Change Size
W
span>With two years in office behind him, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan claims that Jakarta is a better city under his administration, but city councillors and experts say there are many things that Anies has to achieve in order to prove his leadership qualities.
The former education minister was sworn in as governor on Oct. 16, 2017, after defeating incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in an intense gubernatorial election marked by heightened sectarian tensions.
Anies claimed that he had run 14 flagship programs this year as part of efforts to realize Wajah Baru Jakarta (the New Face of Jakarta), a catchphrase he introduced as an umbrella program to differentiate his policies from those of his predecessor.
Anies reiterated that the concept would rely on public participation in the development plans and projects.
The programs were among the 23 pledges he made during his campaign, which included welfare card distribution, affordable staple food and efforts at women and children’s protection.
“We have set development plans that we aim to achieve within five years. Many programs have been launched but are still in progress because [I have] only met 40 percent of the target,” he said at City Hall on Tuesday.
“Truly, a lot of things the city administration does requires time and some of them pose challenges.”
Among this year’s flagship programs, Anies said, was sidewalk revitalization, 134 kilometers of which he said had been carried out in the past two years.
The city administration aims to increase this by 47 km next year.
The sidewalk revitalization followed the program initially launched along the main thoroughfares of Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman during the tenure of the former governor. After the latter’s incarceration for blasphemy, his successor Djarot Saiful Hidayat kicked off the project.
Another program Anies has been focused on during the past year is integration of transportation, claiming these efforts had doubled the number of Transjakarta passengers from around 396,690 to 641,424 passengers a day within two years.
He also lauded his flagship zero-rupiah down-payment housing scheme dubbed the resident housing solution (Samawa), which aimed to provide a solution to the city’s housing backlog. Under the program, in which the city built its first apartment towers in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, 780 units are available for selected occupants.
This figure is well below the city target of providing up to 14,000 housing units by city-owned companies and 218,000 by the private sector, as stipulated in the 2017-2022 Jakarta Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD).
Anies said the first Samawa project would be a real example to attract private firms into joining hands with the administration to develop more housing projects and reach the target.
Furthermore, he also claimed success for the Integrated Entrepreneurship Program, the new name for the OK OCE entrepreneurship program, which was spearheaded by his former deputy governor Sandiaga Uno. The new name was designed to signal a more inclusive approach to new or experienced entrepreneurs.
Amid the claims of achievement, experts have questioned the basic pledges that Anies made including the one related to clean water coverage in the city. Anies said in February that his administration would take over the tap water management from the private partners of city-owned tap water company PD PAM Jaya, but this remunicipalization has since gone off the radar.
When asked about the progress by journalists, Anies said the negotiation process was still ongoing.
Suryono Herlambang, an urban expert from Jakarta-based Tarumanegara University, said the highlight of Anies’ achievements seemed to be the consequences of his political approach: to encourage public participation and collaboration.
"An approach that requires a longer process and time before being able to be implemented in the field," he told The Jakarta Post.
Hence, Anies’ administration had yet to have a significant impact in terms of functional development on the city, Suryono said, citing examples such as the development of the Semanggi Interchange, the elevated corridor 13 of Transjakarta and Kalijodo Park, which were begun during his predecessor’s term.
He suggested Anies optimize his TGUPP special team to accelerate the city development, given that he only had three years left.
Public policy expert from the University of Indonesia Lisman Manurung said the city progress in the past two years was relatively modest as he had yet to see any remarkable output from Anies’ leadership. He commended Anies for the distribution of the welfare cards but also noted that Anies’ programs of bike lanes and footbridge revitalization might not have a similar magnitude with all citizens.
“Anies could have done better because he has the capacity. Jakarta needs decisive leadership," he said.
