Fauzi's 100-day plan lacks results: Historian

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Approaching the end of Governor Fauzi Bowo's first 100-day action plan, Jakartans were divided on how the city administration performed.

The plan, which spans from Oct. 8 to Jan. 15, comprises 19 areas ranging from the reduction of traffic congestion caused by busway lane construction, to the development of the Mass Rapid Transit (monorail) project, flood mitigation and providing better public facilities for disabled people.

Alwi Shahab, a historian and avid observer of Jakarta, said Fauzi's 100-day plan had not shown any significant results. However, he said, Fauzi's efforts to improve Jakarta were commendable.

"The problem is, his programs were not well delegated to lower-level officials. It made his plans ineffective," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said a plan would be remarkable if it was carried out by neighborhood and community units, involving residents.

Urban planning expert from Trisakti University, Yayat Supriatna, said it was difficult for the public to evaluate the governor's 100-day performance, as the plans' targets were unclear.

"Let's say the poverty level rose by 40 percent last year. If the administration had targeted to decrease that level, then it could be evaluated," he said.

Fauzi Bowo had shown improvement at an internal and horizontal level, but failed to tackle the city's crucial problems, Yayat said.

"Unlike former Governor Sutiyoso, Fauzi has shown a commitment to cooperate and coordinate with top leaders from Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi in handling the flood problem," he said.

At an internal level, Fauzi had shown progress in the recruitment of new officials, he said.

"However, on a wider level, Jakartans have not really benefited from his programs," Yayat said.

The 100-day programs were just a beginning, he said. To know what Fauzi's next steps would be was the most important thing for now, Yayat said.

Unlike the urban experts and observers, many residents appeared not to know about Fauzi's 100-day plan.

"National issues like disasters have taken my attention more than the governor's programs," Olansons Girsang, a lecturer's assistant at University of Indonesia, said Saturday.

He said the 100-day plan was not well known, since it had not been well publicized by the government.

Andre Djarot, winner of the 2005 Abang Jakarta (Jakarta's youth tourism ambassador) award, also said the administration had failed to publicize it.

"In my opinion, people see the work merely as a continuation of Sutiyoso's programs," he told the Post.

The city administration had shown more progress than previously in handling the flood problem, but the traffic problem has worsened, Djarot said.

In fact very few Jakartans interviewed were familiar with the 100-day plan. When asked for their opinions on it, many chose to talk about getting a better representation of society in the administration.

A member of the public organization Betawi Consultative Body, Syahrul Kumala, said Saturday he hoped the governor would give priority to Betawi natives in electing staff for strategic positions.

"The governor should replace under-qualified officials with Betawi professionals," he told the Post.

Syahrul, however, did not explain what Fauzi had missed and needed to improve in his 100-day plan, nor did he mention any knowledge of its contents.

Another body member, identifying himself as only Taufik, like Syahrul said he wanted more ethnic representatives contributing to the making of bylaws.

As for the 100-day plan, he only said, "It's good, I give it my support," but did not comment on any particular area.