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The 1971 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government ServiceCITATION for Ali Sadikin
Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 1971, Manila, Philippines
Few problems are as critical for the developing world as the flood of rural migrants to the cities. Such rapid urbanization often creates mushrooming slums of squatter shacks. Their poorly skilled inhabitants swell the number of unemployed, threatened with the disillusion of their dreams of benefiting from industrialization.
Djakarta, where the population over the past 30 years has grown from 600,000 to nearly five million, was no exception. Neglected for the first 18 years after it was wrested from Dutch control in 1948 by leaders more interested in status monuments than sewerage and garbage disposal, this largest city in Southeast Asia had become almost unmanageable. Potholed streets, chaotic and inadequate public transport and water and power shortages combined to menace health and foster a feeling of decay, both economic and human.
When ALI SADIKIN, who had risen through the Marine Corps to command the Navy, was appointed Governor in early 1966, prospects for salvaging the capital were further clouded by a national financial malaise. Centralizing and streamlining administration with his directive of 22 June 1966, the new Governor set about learning to know the city entrusted to his care. Riding the ramshackle, overcrowded buses, wandering through unsanitary markets and exploring the slums, he gained a grasp of the people's physical difficulties and hunger for hope. President Suharto, aware of the magnitude of the task, strengthened the Governor's hand by naming him in 1967 the "single authority" in administration of the Djakarta Special Capital City Region.
Governor SADIKIN has augmented city revenue by vigorous tax collection, persuasive pleading for funds from the national government and municipal control of gambling—which yields nearly one-fifth of the Region's income and no longer is a major cause of corruption. Only 43 percent of an annual budget equivalent to roughly US$30 million is being used for routine expenditures; the balance is used for public improvements. Upon completion of a three-year plan of energetic rehabilitation, the City Council in April 1969 launched Repelita, its current five-year development program. Accomplishments include upgrading of important roads, sereets and sidewalks, construction of bridges, overpasses, bus stops and terminals, police outposts, a cultural center, a recreation center and a legislative building. Transport vehicles were repaired and new buses procured, parks and villages cleaned and the city zoo relocated and enlarged. In the first plan 162 schools were built; another 50 followed toward a target of 345. To new health centers have been added three hospitals—for west, south and east Djakarta. Improvement of water supply, sewage systems and streets, traffic control and rejuvenation of markets continues, together with building new city-owned shopping complexes.
In an urban area whose residents increase by 200,000 annually, unpopular measures have been necessary such as curbing the influx of migrants without jobs or housing. Yet, as Djakarta burgeons within relatively systematic planning—on the 444th anniversary of its founding as a princely capital in North Java—it bespeaks the spirit of the new Indonesia. Its Governor, born in West Java 44 years ago, has given the citizenry confidence that when their latent energy is mobilized for positive ends they can effectively help themselves.
In electing Lieutenant General ALI SADIKIN to receive the 1971 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Governmene Service, the Board of Trustees recognizes his innovation, foresight and compassion in design and management of a modern administration giving residents of Indonesia's capital a sense of increased well-being in a finer community.
