Neglect, intervention and unilateral action of DKI Jakarta Culture Service against DKJ results in motion of no confidence

The Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) last Friday (17 December) expressed its concern about the performance of the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office, Iwan Henry Wardhana. The DKJ's motion of no confidence is related to alleged violation of DKI Jakarta Governor Regulation Number 4 of 2020 concerning the Jakarta Academy (AJ) and the Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ).

The DKJ deemed that there has been neglect, intervention and unilateral action (fait accompli), which could lead to the failure of DKJ programmes and the dissolution of the organisational structure and systems that regulate the operational implementation of DKJ programmes, said DKJ Chairman Danton Sihombing.

Several cases of the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office’s intervention on the independence of the DKJ were presented at the press conference.

The takeover of the 2022 DKJ programme and budget presentation by the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office.
It should be presented and accounted for by the DKJ in front of the Regional Representative Council. This action raises concerns that the background, intent, goals and objectives of each programme are not conveyed due to the lack of understanding of the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office and the head of the Jakarta Arts Centre-Taman Ismail Marzuki (PKJ-TIM) about the DKJ’s programmes. In addition, there was a fatal error where the programme and budget document brought by the presenter was different from the document prepared by the DKJ.
Apart from the program and budget cases, there were unilateral decisions regarding the fate of the permanent workers of the DKJ.
In the plenary session of the DKJ which took place on 7 April 2021, the DKJ submitted the DKJ Work Guidelines (PK) document as a derivative of the DKI Jakarta Governor Regulation No.4/2020. The document is expected to serve as the basis for decision making related to the technical, organisational systems and operational mechanisms of the AJ and DKJ. Unfortunately, since it was sent through the PKJ-TIM on the same date, the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office still hasn’t made any follow-up.
On 27 November 2021, the DKJ wrote to the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office regarding this matter. The result was a unilateral decision from the DKI Jakarta Culture Office to accept the PKJ-TIM’s decision to only accept four DKJ workers with the status of contract workers. The number of DKJ workers is 25 people with a status of permanent workers.
The DKJ followed up on this case by writing a letter to the governor of DKI Jakarta on 16 November 2021. Eventually, an audience was held at the City Hall on 14 December 2021, led by the assistant for people's welfare and accompanied by the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office.
“At the meeting, the workers did not agree on the offered options, because those options were considered detrimental to their status as permanent workers at the DKJ. Seeing the injustice caused by the decisions of the head of the Culture Office under the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office, the 25 DKJ workers made a report to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) on 6 December 2021," said Literature Committee Head Avianti Armand.
Anita Dewi Puspita Hutasuhut who represents the DKJ workers stated that in addition to reporting the case to LBH and taking part in an audience with the DKI Jakarta Culture Office, they registered the DKJ union with the Manpower Office on 6 December 2021.
The last case is related to the management of the PKJ-TIM.
In theory, the Jakarta Academy and the Jakarta Arts Council hold the position as the advocacy partners for the Jakarta provincial government for arts-related policies in Jakarta. The Simpul Seni concept that was presented by the DKJ at the Leaders’ Meeting on Strategic Discussion for DKJ Arts Advocacy on 30 August 2021 is expected to be able to create a healthy and sustainable arts ecosystem in Jakarta, in which the PKJ-TIM is included. This shows that PKJ-TIM cannot be separated from the existence of the DKJ, AJ and the Jakarta Arts Institute.
During the dispute on the PKJ-TIM management plan post-revitalisation, several focus group discussions (FGDs) and strategic meetings were held with groups who claimed to represent the artist communities. However, they only involved Jakpro, leaving out the DKJ and AJ.
The governor of DKI Jakarta directed the regional apparatus work unit (SKPD) after the leaders’ meeting on 30 August 2021 to follow up on the discussion regarding the management of PKJ-TIM with the DKJ and Jakpro.
The head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office then held a meeting with the DKJ on 21 September 2021 and explained four options for the management of PKJ-TIM and Jakpro. The meeting resulted in an agreement to use the financial management of the regional public service agency (PPK BLUD) method.
Based on the agreement, the DKJ submitted a recommendation to the governor of DKI Jakarta that the management of PKJ-TIM should be carried out under the public service obligation (PSO) scheme which prioritises the program of free access to various artistic activities for the public. The programme uses funds from the regional budget.
The DKJ regretted what happened next: the follow-up leaders’ meeting with the governor of DKI Jakarta on 30 November 2021. On that occasion, the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office and the president director of Jakpro came forward to present the problems of PKJ-TIM development progress and management plan. The DKI Jakarta Culture Office sent an invitation for the meeting only 16 minutes before the meeting started. As a result, the DKJ lost the opportunity to provide recommendations for the management of PKJ-TIM.
Another thing that the DKJ regrets is the unilateral decision of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office on the official information and communication media of the Taman Ismail Marzuki revitalisation project.
A new PKJ-TIM logo appeared alongside the Jakpro logo on the posts of the ‘wajahbaru_tim’ Instagram account. The logo was made without the knowledge of the AJ and DKJ.

The cases described above are based on an attempt to interfere with and intervene the DKJ as an independent and non-structural institution of the regional government in the field of arts by the head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office. These actions are deemed incapacitating the role and governance of the DKJ.

The DKJ demands that the DKI Jakarta provincial government retain the 25 DKJ permanent workers with no change in salaries, transport and meal allowance, as well as social security (BPJS) which will be implemented in full starting January 2022. In addition, the DKJ wants the restoration of its independence, authority, function and role in accordance with Governor Regulation Number 4 of 2020.