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Biem Benyamin is the son of perhaps the most popular Betawi icon ever, the late comedian Benjamin Sueb. But even this homegrown Jakartan is unhappy with the direction the city is headed and the problems in which it is mired.

“Living here has grown progressively more uncomfortable over the years,” Biem said. “It’s a mission getting around in the traffic. When it rains, it always floods. And with such a high population density, there’s not enough open green space in the city.”

But Biem isn’t just another Jakarta resident sounding off about the usual problems of life in the Big Durian. His aim is to fix them, and he intends to do that from City Hall.

Biem is the running mate for Faisal Basri, the renowned economist who is making a bid for the Jakarta governorship in the election scheduled for July. The two, who are running as independents, have already passed the first phase of the nomination process and are now undergoing a verification phase.

Their platform, far more subdued than the bombastic claims that won Fauzi Bowo the seat in 2007, is based on the four-pillared foundation of people, infrastructure, education and spirit, Biem said.

For instance, their answer to the city’s worsening traffic situation is a call for better public transportation.

“There’s no two ways about it. We need more public transportation. The busway won’t fix everything,” Biem said.

“What would be a viable solution is a mass transportation system with no interchanges, like a subway or monorail line.”

The elevated roads now being built by Fauzi’s administration, Biem said, would not alleviate traffic in the city.

“Over the short term you might see an easing in traffic congestion, but it won’t last long because a solution like this encourages more private car use, whereas we need to be encouraging more public transportation use,” he said.

As for flood mitigation, the pair’s solution is better control of upstream watersheds in Bogor and rehabilitating existing downstream water catchment areas throughout the Greater Jakarta area.

The problem facing previous governors of the capital in implementing these seemingly straightforward fixes is the overlapping authority of the central government, Biem said.

“What makes the job of governor hard is having to deal with the central government,” he said.

The management of the vast Senayan and Kemayoran zones in South and Central Jakarta, respectively, falls under the authority of the central government, with City Hall powerless to dictate planning for those areas. Similarly, the network of toll roads inside and around the city is overseen by the Transportation Ministry.

“The central government completely controls these areas, so it’s difficult to plan the city properly,” Biem said.

He said another issue that he and Faisal were committed to resolving was the tendency for community and religious organizations to commit violence.

“We should be guiding rather than dissolving such groups,” he said.

“They obviously have genuine grievances, so if we can address those grievances and find a solution together, everyone’s happy.”