Mayor Of Djakarta Gets $US25 A Month

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31866, 19 December 1968, Page 5

Mayor Of Djakarta Gets $US25 A Month

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) DJAKARTA. The Mayor of Djakarta presides over an urban disaster area, earns about SUS2S a month—and likes it, the United Press International reports.

An Indonesian Marine Corps major-gen-eral named Ali Sadikin, aged 41, administers the capital city of 4.4 million people. “I’m running a race with the Communists,” Sadikin said in an interview. “Poverty is the Communists’ friend.”

The city Sadikin administers as mayor has doubled in population in the last seven years. Between 60 and 70 per cent of its people live in sub-standard housing. Djakarta also provides the national Government with 40 per cent of its tax revenue but gets back only enough money to pay municipal salaries. The capital city runs an annual operating deficit of SUSIO million, provides water and electricity to only 15 per cent of its citizens, runs its schools on two shifts a day but has 300,000 children receiving no education because of a classroom shortage, and runs only 400 buses. “These are my people, they must be helped,” Sadikin says. He battles with the central government for the money he needs to fix roads and bring light and water to the kampongs (villages) within the city. GAMBLING TAXES When Sadikin found he could not get needed funds from the tightly budgeted national Government, he began authorising gambling, and he taxed the casinos heavily.

The mayor licensed a gambling casino for foreigners only. It nets the city more than SUSBS,OOO a month. He authorised several lotteries which bring in another SUS2OO.OOO monthly. “The people like it—they are getting the benefits,” Sadakin says, shrugging off criticism and pointing to the inflation which makes a shambles of any attempt at city pjanning. “You know, it costs me SUSB a square yard to put up a school building in 1966; today it costs me SUS2O for that same square yard of school building,” he said. OTHER CITIES Sitting at his desk with a shelf full of books on city management, urban planning and the future of cities behind him, Sadikin speaks of other cities. “Look at Teheran. I read where they borrowed millions from the World Bank for development. They pay it back in 20 or 40 years with no interest. If I borrow anything from the central bank here I have to pay it back, with interest, in one year. “Look at Bangkok. We’re 15 or 20 years behind Bangkok. They’ve got 3000 buses to serve two million people. I’m supposed to serve four million people with 400 buses. It’s impossible.” But he really does not believe that. He has improved roads, built a modern central terminal and redrawn bus routes. The 400 ancient buses may be packed to the rafters, but you can ride anywhere in Djakarta for 3c on a city bus. “Our city water pipes are 60 years old,” he said. ‘The books tell me that they must

be replaced after 40 years. I’ve got to spend SUS6m just to replace what we have—and that doesn't leave anything for expanding the water service.” The mayor’s SUS2S a month salary must be supplemented by his wife’s earnings as a dentist. But he says: “Somehow I like this job. It is more rewarding than my military career was. I’m working directly for the people. Maybe we can win this war, this race with the Communists. I’m an optimist.”