Hopefully, we will never again see an important project start too late -- such as the flood mitigation program this year that began only after many parts of the capital had been inundated.
We can hope the city public works agency will now be able to repair damaged roads across the city immediately, with funding expected to be readily available.
Unusually, the Jakarta City Legislative Council approved its 2009 budget much earlier than in previous years -- in late November. City budget approval has traditionally occurred in late December or early January, with New Year's celebrations frequently held without a new budget.
The early approval really is a breakthrough for various development projects, particularly if the Home Ministry (which is tasked with checking draft regional budgets) can finish its job quickly and return the draft to the city administration.
Early this year, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo was involved in an open dispute with the City Council when he criticized its 75 councilors for not having finalized the draft budget, which had been passed on to them one month earlier.
The debacle left Jakarta without a new budget until late March this year.
Sluggish budget deliberations have had a huge impact on development projects, with agencies under the city administration often using this as an excuse for poor spending on various projects.
Also because of the late budget approval in 2008, by the third quarter of this year the city had been able to spend only 42.19 percent of the total Rp 20.53 trillion (US$1.87 billion) budget, mostly on salaries of civil servants.
Meanwhile, spending for development projects was even lower: 31.42 percent of the total Rp 14.13 trillion allocated had been spent.
With such poor performance, Jakartans are unable to benefit from the desired results of these projects.
Such sluggishness has also sparked inefficiencies because, when time is constrained, certain projects can legally be offered to contractors outside the standard procurement process. Such are the loopholes available for officials to collude with business partners.
The 2009 city budget totals some Rp 22.42 trillion -- a 10 percent increase from this year's figure. The city still relies for its revenue on taxpayers' money, which is set to contribute some Rp 18.69 trillion next year -- mostly from motorized vehicles, property, hotels and restaurants.
On the spending side, education has received the largest allocation with some Rp 5.19 trillion, or 23 percent of the total budget, compared with Rp 4.91 billion last year.
Other sectors that will receive significant allocations include housing with Rp 3.85 trillion, public works Rp 1.7 trillion, transportation Rp 1.14 trillion and the environment Rp 1.42 trillion.
However, this is only a preliminary budget approval and those encouraging figures are not a guarantee that these amounts of taxpayers' money will be spent wisely by bureaucrats.
Therefore, the following step is to ensure that this money will be spent efficiently, for the public interest and not the interests of a small number of people such as bureaucrats and city councilors.
What do all those figures in the budget mean if the money is not spent efficiently -- if large portions of this money go missing and if bureaucrats do not serve the public in earnest (even when a major part of the budget is allocated for their salaries)?
The City Council, as a formal institution armed with supervisory authority, holds the key to ensure that the city budget is spent wisely.
Nongovernment organizations may be able to take part in monitoring the budget spending, but have limited authority to conduct such work.
Therefore, we really hope city councilors will work in the interests of the public, not their own.
According to a number of analysts, inefficiencies caused by the current bureaucratic conditions have resulted in losses of 30 to 40 percent of the total budget. If these estimates are correct, it is a very sad state of affairs.
We regret that historically we have not been able to rely on our legislative representatives to carry out monitoring activities, because many of their members have colluded with government officials and businesses.
Many members of the House of Representatives have been charged in various corruption cases, and some have been tried, thanks to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). But many others have slipped through -- some are even seeking reelection.
To date, no City Council member has been charged in relation to any corruption cases in the capital. Hopefully, this is not because the KPK has not done its job properly. But we are also curious about a number of issues relating to this year's and previous city budgets.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said earlier this year that his administration did not have adequate funding to repair roads because councilors had cut the allocation for such projects.
His staff further explained that the city administration had proposed Rp 280 billion (US$25.45 million) for road repairs in the 2008 budget, but the council had approved only Rp 37 billion.
We question councilors' motivation for cutting such important allocations and shifting funding to other areas. What was behind the move?
Were there more important projects than repairing damaged roads, which regularly turn into lakes after rains, worsening traffic congestion and endangering motorists' and other road users' lives?
In the 2009 budget, there are also several questionable allocations. For example, the Rp 9 billion for 12 meetings of city councilors. Other odd items include procurement for electronic goods where it is assumed that a laptop computer costs between Rp 35 and 40 million, while a desktop computer costs Rp 20 million -- far more than the going rate.
We hope councilors will use their remaining months in office doing their best for the public. Hopefully, they will not prefer to fill their own pockets than to strive to meet the demands of their voters. They will not prefer to listen to their bosses in political parties than voice the public's wishes. They will not collude with officials or businesses for their own interests.
Meanwhile, Jakartans have an opportunity to evaluate the performance of all city councilors, as well as all legislative positions, when they vote for them in April.
We may need to check the track records of incumbent councilors who we voted for five years ago. Have they done anything for us? Were they involved in any scandals?
If they have not performed well, we really must expel them from this honorable position. We can find other figures who are more credible. Otherwise we could be stuck groaning about their behavior for the next five years.
Source: The writer is a journalist at The Jakarta Post. Bambang Nurbianto , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 12/26/2008 11:20 AM | Opinion
