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Ahok benefits from relations with military, police

Jakarta Post - May 6, 2015

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Dewanti A. Wardhani, Jakarta – As he confronts a hostile Jakarta City Council unsupportive of his policies, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama is capitalizing on his friendly relations with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, calling on both institutions to help him implement programs, including the five-point Orderly Jakarta (5TJ) program.

Earlier this year, Ahok signed Gubernatorial Decree No. 224, creating a legal foundation for the city's cooperation with the National Police (Polri), the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry.

Ahok enjoys close relations with TNI chief Gen. Moeldoko and has attended TNI morning assemblies and ceremonies. On Monday, Ahok held a meeting with National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso in City Hall, after which he praised Budi as a "cool policeman with a clean record".

The 5TJ consists of five working groups: the orderly residences group headed by the Housing and Building Agency; the orderly street vendors group headed by the Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Agency and the Trade Agency; the orderly waste-disposal group headed by the Sanitation Agency; the orderly traffic group headed by the Transportation Agency in cooperation with the Jakarta Traffic Police and the orderly protests group headed by the Jakarta Police.

All five groups, Ahok said, would need assistance from hundreds of police officers and dozens of Army personnel every day.

Housing and Building Agency head Ika Lestari Aji said this year her agency, in cooperation with the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), the TNI and Polri, would focus on evicting residences living on waterways and riverbanks.

"We will evict residents in 14 locations this year, mostly in West and North Jakarta. We will try to finish it this year and we will cooperate with the TNI and Polri to secure and speed up the evictions," Ika said during a public meeting in City Hall in Central Jakarta on Monday.

Priority will be given to West Jakarta's Sekretaris River, North Jakarta's Cakung River and East Jakarta's Ciliwung River.

Transportation Agency head Benjamin Bukit said that to improve road traffic, the agency and the traffic police would focus on fighting the most common violations, including motorcycles driving against traffic, ngetem (public minivans and minibuses stopping arbitrarily to wait for passengers) and haphazard parking.

"In total we will focus on 10 areas this year, including Roxy and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta; Bintang Mas and Marunda Cilincing in North Jakarta and Kota Tua and Slipi in West Jakarta," Benjamin said.

To encourage orderly waste disposal, the city will focus on the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta and the Cakung drain this year. It will also cooperate with neighboring cities to create an integrated waste-disposal system. Moreover, the city will evict hundreds of street vendors in Basuki Rahmat, East Jakarta, and in locations in West Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police will be responsible for ensuring protests are orderly and do not devolve into riots. "The capital city wants to become a model of traffic and cleanliness," Ahok said recently.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/06/ahok-benefits-relations-with-military-police.html.