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It pains me to say this, but I am willing to bet that you will agree with me: There haven’t been any positive changes in Jakarta in 2011. Looking around, it’s clear to me that the city I love so dearly is not improving. In fact, many people I know say that Jakarta has become a worse place in which to live.

The list of complaints is as long as it is repetitive, and starts with the one thing most of us can no longer tolerate: The traffic. All they people who wake up at five in the morning so they can get to the office on time have witnessed how the roads are getting more crowded by the day. The number of private cars and motorcycles, it seems, continues to grow with no end in sight.

And what has the city administration done? Instead of expanding the mass transportation system, officials in Jakarta are convinced that building new overpasses will fix the problem. While other mega-cities proudly boast of efficient, fast and modern transit systems that are easy to use, Jakarta’s Band-Aid solution only encourages more people to buy new cars and motorcycles. Given that a private vehicle may be the only way to reach many spots in Jakarta, who can blame them?

But despite the fact that traffic in Jakarta is a daily headache, it is a well-known fact that there is no feasible solution in sight. Like most Jakartans, I’m getting a little tired of discussing the matter.

What about the complete lack of green spaces for Jakarta’s citizens to mingle, exercise and relax for free? Sitting in a clean, peaceful, open space in the middle of the city is an alien concept here. So you can’t blame people for flocking to the sterile new malls that seem to have sprouted up like weeds in every corner of the city.

As a result of the administration’s inability to provide enough green spaces, we are less prepared for major flooding in the coming months as the peak of the rainy season approaches. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned that if intense rains hit the capital for three consecutive days or more, residents of Jakarta will need to prepare for the worst. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that we won’t have to face a similar situation to the tragedy of 2007, when many parts of Jakarta were submerged. Sadly enough, city officials still haven’t learned their lesson.

For many women in Jakarta, the most pressing and important issue has become their personal safety. News of rapes in angkots are all too common, but the city administration and police haven’t done enough to either acknowledge or prevent sexual assault. There is something fundamentally wrong in Jakarta if women fear being raped every time they use public transportation.

While the administration was praised for its efforts to fight poverty last year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has announced that the number of people living below the poverty line in Jakarta actually increased by some 60,000 to more than 363,000. While the ranks of the impoverished explode, new malls and commercial centers in the capital are packed with shoppers. It is only too obvious that the city administration’s policies are skewed toward the rich.

As the heart of the nation, Jakarta has failed to set a good example in city planning, public safety, education, the allocation of public space or the eradication of poverty. Our officials have been tirelessly trumpeting that education is free to every child in the city, but the reality is far different. Tuition might be free, but underfunded schools have found other ways to extract money from students, even the poorest ones, usually through textbook or uniform fees. While there are plenty of new private schools that cater to rich people’s children and offer first-rate facilities, the city’s public schools are falling further behind. How can those living in poverty ever hope to achieve better lives? By denying our poorest citizens a decent education, we are condemning them to poverty.

I could go on endlessly about Jakarta’s problems. Looking at the dire situation, we must ask how Governor Fauzi Bowo is actually governing the city. As someone who called himself “the expert” during his election campaign more than four years ago, I think it’s time he admits that he’s no expert at all. The question becomes even more relevant with the recent resignation of Deputy Governor Prijanto. While he has said many times that the governor is a good leader, it’s getting harder for the public to swallow that claim.

Next year, as we elect the next governor, we must look beyond the catchy slogans and empty promises.

Tasa Nugraza Barley is a features reporter at the Jakarta Globe.