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Jakarta Must Come First, President Tells Surabaya
Amir Tejo | December 14, 2010

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adfr
2:21pm Mar 20, 2012

I agree, where are we heading? Going to Surabaya to summon the city asking them to stop requiring for attention from the government is an insult to all people in Surabaya and to all people living outside of Jakarta, which is the vast majority. Has the president been studying development issues when he was younger? Because it is well-known that an harmonious development involves developing a network of big cities able to attract people equally. Why focusing on Jakarta when instead, he should focus on Surabaya, and other big Indonesian cities? Jakarta will never be well-developed, somebody should tell him it is too late, the limits have been crossed, now it is time to find other solutions (which do not include moving the capital in the middle of Kalimantan forest!!).


BilboBaggins
8:47pm Dec 15, 2010

Anybody got a compass?

Where are we headed here?

masmon2
11:58am Dec 15, 2010

Blah blah blah blah blah blah..... what is the point of him coming to Surabaya and then lecturing people on how important Jakarta is.

If he had any dignity he would take a trip with his fanancier down to Porong and explain to the thousands displaced by the mudflow why their Government has failed them.

Additionally he could look into why it is that the toll road destroyed by the mud flow has not been rebuilt over four years after the event.

Then he should visit Suciwati (Munirs wife) in Malang and explain to her why he failed to live up to his promise to her to make sure those responsible for her husbands death would be punished.

Instead the residents of surabaya have to spend hours stuck in their cars because all the roads are closed off to allow his cavalcade that includes 14 ministers (!!!) to pass.

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Surabaya. The nation’s capital has a central role in the country’s efforts to becoming a developed economy, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said.

The president, speaking in Surabaya on Tuesday, said that Jakarta’s important role in the development of the economy was the reason why he accorded special attention to it.

“The economic development of Jakarta and its surrounds should be handled well. Why? Because the economic contribution of Jakarta and its surrounds to the national economy is enormous,” he told a lecture at the state-run Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS) in the country’s second-largest city.

He said Jakarta was currently overcrowded and its transportation and environmental problems had become critical and needed to be addressed.

Therefore, he said the government would focus on accelerating the capital’s development over the next 15 years.

“We should think about a solution for its transportation issues,” he said.

“Maybe we should pursue the idea of building a separate seat of government so that Jakarta can be better and everyone can be happy.”

Yudhoyono earlier this year floated three ideas to deal with the increasingly overloaded capital — move the seat of government elsewhere, move the capital altogether or stay and work harder on improving infrastructure, including transportation.

He said studies had shown the capital needed to expand by at least 1.25 times if it was to evenly spread its overpopulation, but the logistics of such a scheme were impractical.

A well-developed capital, Yudhoyono told the lecture, would help the country become an emerging economy within 15 years.

“By becoming an emerging country in 15 years, that would be a stepping stone for Indonesia to become an advanced country,” he said.

He urged the nation to be optimistic about reaching that goal because with hard work, anything was possible.

Meanwhile, as the president was lecturing the students at the ITS campus, student protesters clashed violently with police personnel at the nearby Airlangga University campus.

The violence, which included students throwing stones at police officers and a passing truck being hijacked, reportedly started after three students suspected of burning tires near the university were arrested by police.

The three students were later released without charge.

A scheduled rally in front of the ITS campus had earlier been disbanded by police and a protest march organized by some 30 Muslim student groups was also blocked by police and subsequently disbanded.