Pontianak Leads in Governance Reform

As a regional city located far from Jakarta, the capital city of West Kalimantan, Pontianak, does not make headlines very of­ten and people mostly consider the city as one of the most disad­vantaged in the country.

But on Tuesday, Pontianak proved the stereotype wrong and won the title as the country’s best regional governance reformer.

In the 2016 Regional Econom­ic Governance survey conduct­ed by the Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD), a majority of the respondents, which comprise mostly businesspeople, favored Pontianak as it provided good in­frastructure and stability along with ease in business permit issuance.

“The (Pontianak) administra­tion creates synergy with its citi­zens in road development. It pro­vides the building materials such as cement, while the citizens provide the manpower and other materials,” KPPOD researcher Boedi Rheza said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Regarding stability, 92.5 per­cent of the respondents said Pontianak had been thorough­ly safe in 2016 and only 2.5 per­cent of them perceived the city as “prone to social conflict.”

It does not charge building permit fees for businesses whose labor forces comprise up to 60 percent local manpower. It has also developed a one stop inte­grated service that allows busi­nesspeople to process compa­ny-registration certificates and business permits in a day, faster than the central government’s standard of three days.

“Pontianak has followed the central government’s instruction and their implementation is re­ally good,” Institute for Develop­ment of Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara said.

At the opposite end North Su­matra’s capital Medan is at the bottom of the list because of a lack of business development programs. Seventy five percent of respondents said it had an in­efficient business permit issu­ance system, with a lack of integ­rity in its bureaucracy.

The survey also found that major cities in eastern Indone­sia have shown rapid progress in regional economic governance, with six cities in eastern Indo­nesia placing in the top 10 best administered list, using prime regional economic governance standards.

The cities are Gorontalo city, Gorontalo, in second po­sition; Palu, Central Sulawesi (fifth); Makassar, South Sulawesi (sixth); Kendari, Southeast Su­lawesi (eighth); Manado, North Sulawesi (ninth); and Ambon, Maluku, in 10^th spot.

According to the survey, they have advanced in their economic governance by simplifying busi­ness permits, promoting trans­parency, bridging the gap be­tween government and business with efficient interaction and maintaining social stability.

The survey of 32 cities across Indonesia last year measured 10 variables including business permit issuance, development programs for the private sec­tor, government-business in­teraction, labor issues, infra­structure development and transaction costs.

“The regional administrations in eastern Indonesia managed to catch up by reforming their governance, which is less costly compared to structural reform including infrastructure up­grades,” Boedi said.

Several cities in eastern Indonesia, he added, had been suc­cessful in their reforms despite limited budgets citing Palu, which levies low administrative fees and regional taxes.

Makassar has been innovative in its interaction with business people by providing a communi­cation forum. The city has also launched smart city and tourism apps. “The business forum pro­vides feedback for the adminis­tration,” Boedi explained.

Meanwhile, Gorontalo and Manado have put a lot of ef­fort into developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Gorontalo has created subdis­trict based economic zones where SMEs in each subdis­trict are selected to develop one main product.

Manado administration has created an SME center, dubbed the “Window on Indonesia.” Working with airline giant Lion Group, the center is aimed at selling locally made crafts to tourists.

--- (Source The Jakarta Post – Wednesday, Jan 1 2017) ---