by Dicky Christanto
Denpasar | Mon, 09/29/2008 10:54 AM |
Newly installed Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika was inundated with complaints from residents Sunday at Bali's first-ever public hearing held at the Provincial Legislative Council's compound.
The hearing, which Pastika preferred to call an "open house", was one of the campaign promises he made before scoring a landslide victory in the island's first direct gubernatorial election, back in July.
YOU HAVE MY EARS: Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika (second left) pays serious attention to a conversation with a man sitting next to him while they are having lunch Sunday. The lunch was part of the first public hearing organized by Pastika’s administration in Denpasar. Such an initiative has never been attempted by any of Pastika's predecessors.
Residents seized upon Sunday's unique hearing with a certain amount of gusto, as at least 39 audience members presented the governor with a wide array of problems over the course of four hours, ranging from the low quality of public services to a development policy that would allegedly jeopardize the island's natural environment.
Inawa from Buleleng, for example, complained about harmful construction projects, citing the construction of villas and tourism facilities around Lake Buyan in Buleleng regency.
The lake and its surrounding forest are the island's primary water catchment and reserve areas. The construction projects, Inawa argued, would compromise the area's ability to reserve water.
"Please do something as it goes against the principles of eco-friendly, sustainable development, which are also some of the core principles of your development policy," Inawa told the governor.
In response, Pastika said his administration was currently reviewing several bylaws and regional regulations related to construction and development policy.
The review is part of an effort to develop policies that would enable the island to move forward without sacrificing the integrity of its natural environment, he added.
Throughout the hearing, Pastika appeared calm and attentive, responding briefly to comments from audience members.
Whenever a problem fell under the jurisdiction of a particular regency administration, he informed the audience the provincial administration would immediately notify the relevant regency.
For issues falling within his office's purview, Pastika firmly promised to look into the matter.
According to the governor, the hearing was designed to accommodate public hopes and goals by providing a more accurate, unbiased picture of social conditions in the province, using a "transparent channel of communication".
"This kind of meeting will offset the bureaucrats' tradition of only reporting good news to the governor. Such a tradition distances a governor from the reality of his own people," Pastika once stated.
The open house also signals that his administration is based on the best interests of the public, he added.
