Nina A. Loasana

The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Heru Budi Hartono’s eight months in the role of Jakarta’s caretaker governor has elicited mixed responses from the public, delighting and displeasing residents in almost equal measure as he awaits a definitive replacement in 2024.

But even in a role where he cannot stray too far from existing plans, urban policy experts have criticized him for failing to leverage his proximity to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, as head of the Presidential Secretariat.

Furthermore, Heru has been accused of attempting to erase the legacy of his predecessor Anies Baswedan, who plans to run for president next year on the back of achievements he made while still in charge of the capital.

Heru has not addressed such criticism publicly, although several pro-government parties have come to his defense.

Since assuming office last October, Heru has taken a contrarian approach to Anies when it comes to dealing with the city’s plethora of problems.

One of his first official acts was to revive the embankment program for the Ciliwung River, known as normalization, as a means to prevent flooding. He also revisited construction of the sewage system and dams in the city’s buffer zones.

Anies had opted for a totally different approach in 2017, promoting naturalization, or the act of transforming river banks into green spaces to mitigate flooding, although this initiative faltered due to difficulties in land acquisition.

Before Heru stepped in, Anies shifted to introducing drainage holes, which successfully reduced the amount of time flooded areas remain inundated, despite initial criticism from his political opponents.

Heru did not resume naturalization but continued adding boreholes in accordance with the city’s midterm development plan, albeit with significant budget cuts.

Public policy expert Agus Pambagio told The Jakarta Post that Heru’s hands are tied, mainly due to election season.

“Heru can’t freely devise any major project because 2023 is a political year. Both the central government and the city council won’t want to make any big political commitment or allocate huge funds for new projects,” Agus explained.

Contrarian politics

When President Jokowi swore him in as interim governor, Heru was asked to address three main issues: flood mitigation, traffic management and city planning.

As former mayor of North Jakarta and former head of Jakarta’s bureau for regional affairs and international cooperation, he is quite familiar with most of them.

But that did not stop him from inflaming public sentiment.

In mitigating congestion, Heru introduced a number of questionable policies. In April, he removed sidewalks and bicycle lanes in South Jakarta as part of a move to close down 32 U-turn spots in the hope of easing traffic flows.

This angered pedestrians, cyclists and motorized vehicle users alike, prompting Heru to walk back on the decision.

More recently, he was criticized by environmentalists for making light of the pollution that was causing Jakarta’s deteriorating air quality, saying he would “blow it away”.

To ease Jakarta’s chronic traffic, Heru has suggested that private sector workers should start their mornings either at 8 a.m. or 10 a.m., but employers and employees strongly rejected this, arguing that it would disrupt productivity.

The caretaker governor also slashed this year’s city budget allocation for bicycle lanes from Rp 38 billion (US$2.5 million) to just Rp 7.5 billion, saying he plans to “optimize” existing lanes rather than make new ones.

Anies had made the expansion of pedestrian and bike lanes his flagship program, building 103 kilometers of bike paths and 67 bicycle-sharing stations and renovating 265 km of walkways to counter dependence on automobiles.

Mixed response

Despite his occasional moments of notoriety, many of the capital’s residents have expressed satisfaction with Heru’s policy of continuity, according to several public opinion polls.

A survey from the Indonesia Survey Stream (ASI) released last month showed that around 60 percent of Jakarta’s residents were satisfied with Heru's first six months in office.

Another survey, conducted in March by the Nusantara Strategic Network (NSN), also found public satisfaction with Heru’s performance reaching 64.5 percent.

Experts, however, have bemoaned the ad interim administration’s failure to address various chronic issues.

Urban studies expert Nirwono Yoga said Heru had yet to make any breakthrough or serious effort to address flooding, air pollution, traffic and poor spatial planning.

“Flood mitigation efforts are slow, and efforts to deal with severe air pollution and chronic traffic congestion have stagnated,” Nirwono told the Post recently.

“Heru should be braver and more willing to innovate in addressing these issues, as he doesn’t have to deal with pressure from political parties or city councilors,” he said.

Elisa Sutanudjaja of the Rujak Center for Urban Studies said Heru had failed to use his proximity to Jokowi and the central government to create meaningful change.

Elisa pointed to the electronic road pricing system that has stalled for more than a decade, or deteriorating commuter line services due to the decommissioning of 10 trains.

“There’s so much Heru can do but did not. Instead of putting in any meaningful effort, he chose to change Anies’ city slogans. It’s no wonder that people have accused him of trying to erase Anies’ legacy,” she told the Post.

Heru and members of his team at City Hall were not immediately available for comment.

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