0 Jokowi seeks legal advice to better serve the city

Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is seeking legal advice from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) to discuss the legal aspects of upcoming policies. Jokowi said that his administration needed to address the legal issues associated with its programs. “We have focused on the economic and social issues. Now, it’s time for us to understand more about the legal issues so that we can work on our aspect,” he said following a meeting with YLBHI founder Adnan Buyung Nasution on Friday. He said that during the meeting, discussions centered on the administration’s plan to relocate street vendors and focused on the vendors rights. 

They also spoke about access to legal protection for the poor and the possibility of increasing the city’s budget for legal aid. “It has always been our concern to give street vendors and poor people proper legal protection,” he said. Adnan said that there would be further meetings with the administration to discuss the plan to relocate street vendors. “This is just our initial meeting. We can only tell you the result of the discussions after the second or third meeting,” he said. Jokowi also asked the YLBHI to guide and watch over the administration while it runs the capital. 

Relocating street vendors has become one of the administration’s top priorities. It plans to gradually relocate street vendors to traditional markets. Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has said that street vendors often caused congestion and were an eyesore. Through relocation, the administration expects to make Jakarta a more comfortable place. In the first phase of the administration’s plan, 15,000 — of an estimated 300,000 — street vendors in the capital would be moved to vacant kiosks in traditional markets managed by city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya. 

Pasar Jaya has provided 3,000 stalls at four traditional markets. In addition to holding a closed-door meeting with Adnan and other YLBHI executives, Jokowi was also present at a brief presentation by the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta). LBH Jakarta director Febi Yonesta presented some legal issues that the administration should give more attention to. “Just like several other cities, Jakarta needs to have a bylaw on legal aid because there are still many criminal cases that are handled without the presence of a legal representative, especially those involving minors,” she said. 

Febi requested that the administration increased the budget allocation for the LBH Jakarta. She said that it was estimated that the institute needed at least Rp 1.2 billion (US$124,545) every year to cover the salaries of 13 public lawyers, 12 assistants to the lawyers and six additional staff. Jokowi said that the increase in the legal aid fund had been proposed in the city’s 2013 draft budget. “I don’t remember what percent the increase will be but there will definitely be an increase,” he said. The approval of the city’s budget has been delayed as the administration and the council are still involved in sluggish deliberations. 

During the submission of the 2013 draft budget, Jokowi laid out plans for the spending of Rp 46.86 trillion, which is an increase of 13.32 percent from last year’s budget of Rp 41.35 trillion. The 2013 budget is likely to be bigger as the city has added Rp 3.1 trillion to the total, which remains unspent from last year’s budget. The administration secretary Fadjar Panjaitan said the unspent budget would fund priority programs.

source : the jakarta post