Indonesia - Sister City Program Introduction
The city of Tigard, Oregon has been given a unique opportunity to work in
partnership with the city of Samarinda, East Kalimantan Indonesia as part of the
International Resource Cities Program (IRCP), which is funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and implemented by the International City/County
Management Association (ICMA). The agreement entered into by the city of Tigard and
the city of Samarinda on February 16, 2002 lists five main objectives.
The first objective is:
"Develop an improved citizen participation process based on communication
between the city and city staff using more effective means." (International Resource
Cities Program Action Plan, February 16, 2002 for technical cooperation between
Samarinda, Indonesia and Tigard, Oregon.)
This paper provides an overview of the current conditions in Samarinda and the
policy issues considered in the development of a training program designed to work
toward improved citizen participation in Samarinda.
Background
The first democratically elected government in Indonesia in 45 years is in power
and pursuing a reform agenda(www.usaid.2ov/id/docs-csn2kis.html). This change in
government structure means new political and economic systems and the rebuilding of
social structures as people assert their rights. The recent sharp economic decline has
stabilized and is showing signs of improvement. Dissenters have been responsible for
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violent demonstrations that displaced many people and jeopardizes a society in flux. At
the same time, Indonesia is moving from years of central government control to an
autonomous system of local government.
Two laws instituted in May 1999 as part of the reform government's actions
provide the legal basis for a revised system of national and local democratic governance
(www.usaid.2ov/id/docs-csn2ku4.html).
Law 22/1999 retains only major functions (defense,judicial, international
relations, treasury) and yields all other authority to local governments including
education, health, land use planning and economic development, environmental
management, and urban services. The role of the existing provinces was also reduced to
that of mostly coordination between districts and area management of central government
programs and agencies. In fact, all authority not granted to the national government
under Law 22 will transfer to local governments. In addition, in the next five years all
local government officials will be elected, currently about 20% are, and will have full
responsibility for the development of democratic, participatory local government.
Law 25/1999 provides the financial framework for local government and the
ability for local governments to make financial decisions. The law requires at least 25%
of national revenues be transferred to the local level along with some property tax and
more natural resource revenue for the originating region.
Implementing these two laws will be difficult because although the
implementation authority is there, local government employees and officials don't have
much experience with"participating self-rule" (www.usaid.gov/id/docs-csp2k04.html.)
and need to develop the skills to operate an open, accountable,participatory government.
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USAID has been assisting Indonesia since the first cooperation agreement was
signed in 1950. For the first 20 years, assistance focused on food shortages, health
issues, rebuilding transportation systems, education exchanges, and providing technical
and financial assistance to businesses and government. In the 1970's USAID turned its
focus to independence in rice production, and reducing birth rates. The 1980's
emphasized improving economic efficiency and reducing Indonesia's dependency on
revenues from oil. By 1990, USAID directed its efforts at improving employment and
economic opportunities for all citizens.
USAID had been planning to reduce support to Indonesia when an economic
crisis hit in 1997. Because of the crisis, USAID continued assistance in the areas of
health and economic policy. It was this economic crisis that led to the big changes in the
Indonesian government in 1999. USAID funded nongovernmental organizations
(LAGOS) trained 600,000 nonpartisan election monitors to ensure fair elections. The
USAID International Resource Cities Program is assisting Indonesian cities' transition to
a government of local control.
USAID's International Resource Cities Program (IRCP)pairs 12 Indonesian cities
with U.S. cities in an effort to provide opportunities for technical exchanges and
examples of best practices and new ideas. The International City/County Management
Association implements this program. On February 27, 2001 Samarinda signed a
memorandum of understanding expressing their interest in participating in the IRCP. On
March 21 and 22, 2001 ICMA staff members met with Samarinda executive and
administrative staff to conduct a diagnosis of current conditions and needs.
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Samarinda is a city of about 500,000 people and is the capital of East Kalimantan
Province. Although the diagnosis conducted by ICMA and later City of Tigard staff
drew conclusions in several areas, only those relative to citizen participation are
summarized here. Secretary to the city of Samarinda, H. Mardiansyah stated that he
believes in skill development for staff and citizens to gain a better understanding of how
international businesses secure contracts so that local entrepreneurs might be successful
in getting some natural resource based contracts. H.M. Saili, the director of finance for
Samarinda stressed the need to follow the "reinventing government model" and to ensure
that the citizens "real"needs were addressed. (City of Samarinda International Resource
Cities Diagnostic March 21-22, 2001). He believes that although Samarinda has adopted
the spirit, they have not embraced the intent of open and accountable government. He is
confident that the recent shift to performance based budgeting, where expenditures are
linked with outcomes, helped show citizens how the city was responding to their needs.
Samarinda staff describe their programs as citizen oriented with citizen based
budgeting and an investment strategy to provide citizens opportunities to secure contracts
with international firms. (City of Samarinda International Resource Cities Diagnostic
March 21-22, 2001). It is unclear though to what extent, if at all, citizens were involved
in developing the city's "Draft Strategic Plan/vision, mission and values" document.
City of Tigard staff on a visit in February 2002 observed the situation in
Samarinda and made the following comments about citizen involvement in the action
plan written at the conclusion of that visit.
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• "Citizen participation is not developed to a point that the level of knowledge
of city government allow the city to pass fee increases for needed capital
investment.
• City staff are professional and committed, however, skill development
would make them more effective in their job performance particularly in the
area of communication with the public and dispute resolution and
facilitation." (International Cities Program Action Plan February 16, 2002
for technical cooperation between Samarinda, Indonesia and Tigard,
Oregon, USA.)
As a result of the Tigard visit in February an action plan was signed by both parties.
Four of the action steps fell under the heading "Develop an in improved citizen
participation process based on communication between the citizens and city staff using
more effective means.
1. Educate all city staff on the present city vision and how to involve the
citizens in the evaluation and update of the vision.
2. Train key management staff in all city departments in effective dispute
resolution and communication techniques.
3. Using the vision as a starting point, initiate a program where city
employees meet with the public and facilitate communication on the
vision and how it will be evaluated and updated.
4. Develop and adopt a citizen involvement process for all city departments,
which calls for obtaining input on projects and plans, reporting issues,
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plans, and successes and reports back to the public at least annually
through the budget process on department performance."
The action plan is attached as Exhibit A. The first 4 action steps with indicators,
timeframes, responsible parties and intermediate steps begins on page 3.
Approach to Developing a Citizen Involvement Training Program for Samarinda
As the second step in the partnership between Samarinda and Tigard, a
Samarindan delegation will be arriving in Tigard in June, in part, to receive training on
citizen involvement methods. As Tigard's primary staff person responsible for citizen
involvement I am one of two staff members charged with developing and facilitating a
seven-day training session.
Where to begin? Samarinda's culture, language, history, and experience are far
different from Tigard's. The first step in the action plan is to educate Samarinda city
staff on the city's vision and on how to involve citizens in the evaluation and update of
the vision.
A review of the Samarinda Draft Strategic P1anNision document reveals that
Samarinda city officials believe it is "necessary to prepare an appropriate formulation that
touches on all the public's aspirations"due to "increasing and strengthening demands
from the public" and the need for city government to improve. The vision recognizes the
improvements in methods to share information with citizens. It also identifies a concern
that the government must take steps to "dampen down demands" from the public for an
anticipated demand for services so that"these problems do not all just pile up, later
becoming an ever increasing burden". (Samarinda Draft Strategic Plan)
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An obstacle to addressing the city's response to citizen demands is that the staff
lacks the training. In addition, Samarinda's citizens are now demanding that the
principles of democracy apply to how government operates, that the citizens goals are
identified, that citizens participate in decision-making, and that government officials are
"professional, responsive and accountable in their work." Primarily for those reasons, the
Draft Strategic Plan for the city of Samarinda for 2001-2005 was prepared to be a guide
for the city of Samarinda to achieve its vision.
Samarinda's Draft Strategic Plan/Vision emphasizes the need for prior consensus
of all stakeholders, including the public in the city to achieve the vision but it is unclear
from the written document if citizens were involved in the formulation of the vision.
The mission for Samarinda in the Draft Strategic Plan/Vision document focuses
on improving infrastructure for businesses, and housing while taking into consideration
environmental impacts. Three of the values stated in the vision apply directly to
government operations—openness, accountability, and responsiveness.
In chapter IV of the Draft Strategic Plan/Vision document the strategic
formulations section summary analysis on residential areas and housing sector, seven
weaknesses are listed which include the lack of publicity and lack of public awareness
related to housing programs and maintenance.
Chapter V of the Draft Strategic Plan/Vision document outlines policies,
programs and targets for addressing the areas identified in the vision. There is mention of
increasing information to the public in the services field. There are policies listed in the
field of residential areas and housing to promote public interest in the development of
housing and to simplify the permit process along with a target to simplify communication
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of information to the public. There is however, no policy or program contained in the
Draft Strategic Plan/Vision document to improve citizen participation or involve citizens
in an evaluation or update of the vision.
If not identified in the city of Samarinda's Draft Strategic Plan/Vision why then,
from a practical standpoint are city officials interested in developing a citizen
participation program the vision as a guide? What do Samarinda city officials perceive as
the benefits of citizen participation?
Tigard staff that visited Indonesia in February 2002 and worked on the action plan
for technical cooperation were able to shed some light on city officials motivation. Bill
Monahan, Tigard's City Manager and Craig Prosser, Tigard's Finance Director explained
that after a recent attempt on the part of Samarinda officials to raise water rates, they
were literally stoned by citizens. Further the culture of the local media is to exaggerate
demonstrations against the government. Therefore Samarinda officials are reluctant to
raise fees for services even negligibly to reflect what services cost so they go without
money to pay for facility and infrastructure upgrades. The hope is that improving the
citizens level of knowledge of city government will allow the city to increase fees for
much needed capital investments to ensure the infrastructure needs of citizens are
addressed. The strategic plan/vision is viewed as a good starting place for citizen
education. Sharing the vision with citizens will provide them information about where
the city is focusing efforts and how the goals identified in the plan will benefit Samarinda
and its citizens. The people of Samarinda are more likely to support the strategic
plan/vision if they have a role in evaluating its successes and revising implementation
strategies if necessary.
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The next question becomes how to affect a program for an improved citizen
participation program for the city of Samarinda using the strategic plan/vision as the tool.
Two Samarindan officials, the Assistant to the Mayor and the Director of
Planning will visit Tigard for 2 weeks in June to receive citizen involvement training.
Their English language skills are limited so they will be accompanied by an interpreter,
an Indonesian who has fluent English speaking and writing skills. The training will be
scheduled for seven days. Besides the language barrier, there is concern because the
Indonesian culture values not offending over getting something done. Mr. Monahan and
Mr. Prosser also observed much fluidity in what Indonesians say and do. They have an
indirect communication style. Life in Indonesia is slower paced and relationally based on
a village culture rather than based on timelines or getting things done. The training must
include opportunities for discussion to ensure the information shared is understood and
will be helpful to the Samarindans. The importance of an ongoing honest assessment of
the training will also be emphasized to the interpreter who was also involved in
translating the February 16, 2002 Action Plan. The action plan implementation is
scheduled to conclude in September 2003. Tigard staff will go to Indonesia in the fall of
2002 to follow up on Samarinda's progress. It's important to determine during this visit
what the Samarindans want to accomplish over the next 15 months.
As a starting point, a citizen involvement assessment was developed and
transmitted via e-mail to the interpreter that will participate in the training in June. The
assessment included ten questions designed to determine what citizen involvement efforts
were currently in place and what opportunities there might be to expand. (Attachment)
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When asked what groups the city currently.gives information to only
neighborhood associations and city offices at village levels were identified. When asked
however, what groups are already in place to involve citizens' schools, religious
organizations, community groups, and social associations (youth, women) were
identified.
When asked where the city currently provides information about city services the
response included by invitation to groups, in government buildings, public parks and
squares, and in community centers. When asked where else information could be shared
Mosques and churches, schools,businesses and through the media- web, newspaper,
radio, TV were also listed.
When asked what methods are used to involve citizens meetings/hearings,
newspapers, radio, television,postings, speakers, and events were included. Mailings,
the web page, tours and door-to-door were added when asked what other methods could
be used.
The response to a question about for what issues the city provides citizen
involvement opportunities was the vision (partly, vague) and political rallies and
demonstrations. However the budget process, the vision, price hikes, and elections were
identified as issues that could benefit from citizen involvement.
Finally, currently the Mayor, elected officials, city department managers, and
technical staff, and volunteers represent the city in citizen involvement efforts but all city
employees and NGO's (nongovernmental organizations)were identified as groups that
could also represent the city in citizen involvement efforts.
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Based on the information provided in this initial assessment, it's
interesting to note that there are many groups in place that the city could share
information with that it currently does not. Likewise there are many locations where the
city could provide information that it currently does not take advantage of.
The methods identified that the city does not use to inform citizens particularly
mailings, web page and door-to-door are very common in the United States but it is
unclear how effective those methods would be in Indonesia.
It is encouraging that the city recognizes there would be some benefit to involving
citizens in the vision and not surprising that price hikes were also identified.
It's fascinating to note that of all the possible representatives currently used in
citizen involvement efforts the only group not used is city employees and there is concern
about the staff's lack of professionalism. A major focus of the citizen involvement-
training program will include skills to train the city staff.
To obtain clarification on the responses contained in the initial citizen
involvement assessment, a second e-mail was sent asking for additional information.
Responses to those questions will clarify terms and ensure there is a clear understanding
how things currently work before the training is finalized.
The Training Plan
The training plan under development is designed to be flexible while still
accomplishing the objectives that will be confirmed on the first day of training.
At this point the training objectives are:
• To review the benefits of citizen participation.
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• To explain how to determine where and what issues to involve citizens in and
clarify the difference between education, information, and input.
• To provide training in dispute resolution, customer service, mediation, and
facilitation skills that can be taught to staff.
• To share examples of communication tools.
• To develop a work program for training Samarinda's staff and educating citizens
on the strategic plan/vision and any other topics identified.
The training will be conducted so that the Samarinda representatives will be working
on concrete applications for their purposes after information is shared by a variety of
professionals in a variety of settings.
The first day of training will include a welcome and a Samarinda"show and tell"
where the Samarinda representatives will share their expectations for the training and the
visit. An overview of the training will be presented including the schedule, the training
objectives, and the final work products. A candid discussion is planned to clarify
Samarinda's current situation including what is practical and realistic in their culture and
environment and organization. The discussion will also include what the desired
outcomes and results are, based on expectations. The training plan will be modified
based on the assessment discussion. Tigard representatives will present the Tigard vision
program experience as a means to articulate the why, who, what, when, where, and how
of citizen participation.
The training will go into more depth on the why, who, what, when, and where of
citizen involvement. Using a variety of different City of Tigard programs and the
Samarinda vision, information will be presented and discussions facilitated on the costs,
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time, dollars, and benefits of citizen involvement. Also who's involved, the skills
needed, and some customer service training.
The training will include a session on how to determine what to get citizens involved
in, when in the process, and where. This will be an opportunity to show how Samarinda
might involve citizens in "price hikes", elections and other issues they identify.
There will be a focus on an overview of the tools used in citizen involvement efforts
and how to determine the most effective ones to use including a session on
communication technology and media scheduled at Washington County.
Much of the time will be devoted to skill building. A visit to the city of Beaverton
Dispute Resolution Center for a session on mediation training is scheduled along with
sessions on meeting facilitation, presentations, and written communication skills.
The final two days of the training program are titled"Putting It All Together". This
will be when the work program is developed for the Samarindan representatives to take
back and begin to implement. The work program will include a section on educating
Samarinda's citizens on their strategic plan/vision, a section on training city employees
on citizen participation skills, and a citizen participation plan for another program/policy
identified during the training. The work program will include timeframes and desired
outcomes and results.
Conclusions
Based on the information currently available about Samarinda's culture, current
political environment, organizational structure, and resources available it is anticipated
that the citizen participation training objectives can be met through the following:
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• Review the benefits of citizen participation
o Use the Tigard Vision Program experience as a model then assist the Samarinda
representatives as they work through a program of citizen participation for their
strategic plan/vision.
• How to determine when and what issues to involve citizens in and clarify the
difference between education, information, and input.
o Use a program/policy chosen by the Samarinda representatives and using some
Tigard examples, identify how and when to access groups, places, and methods
for citizen participation that may not be used currently and develop a work
program that Samarinda can implement immediately.
• Provide training in customer service, dispute resolution, mediation, and
facilitation.
o Use challenges identified by the Samarinda representatives and corollary Tigard
examples to teach these skills and provide training materials the Samarindans can
use to begin to train staff
• Communication tools
o Provide specific examples of tools for citizen participation that can be used by
Samarindans for specific programs along with training on how to develop the
tool.
o Develop a work program
o Assist the Samarindans in the preparation of a work program that provides
specific direction on how to move forward with citizen participation in three
areas: to educate the citizens on the strategic plan/vision, to train employees on
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the vision, and create a citizen participation plan for another program/policy using
the information provided by the training.
The key to success will be a realistic view of what can be accomplished given the
resources available, the ability and willingness of the Samarinda city organization to
implement the program, and how well the training reflects what can be accomplished.
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