Last week, there was a polemic between the Deputy Governor of Banten and the Deputy Mayor of Serang regarding whether Serang City is worthy of being a provincial capital? Both arguments are not wrong. It is natural for the deputy governor to question Serang City’s readiness in terms of infrastructure. Serang City needs a lot of improvement. Urban planning must be applied precisely, not a city built sporadically based on five-year political needs.
However, what the Deputy Mayor of Serang conveyed is more relatable. Topographically, Serang City is indeed the most suitable to be the capital. The direction of development still has potential to be explored and prepared extensively. Meanwhile, in western Banten, Cilegon City has established itself as a high-risk industrial city. Pandeglang is too far in the corner, infrastructure is still too problematic, with only a few arterial road routes. Moving to Lebak, it still faces complex rural issues. To the east, there is Tangerang City and Greater Tangerang. It appears quite advanced, with skyscrapers and luxury houses already in place. But Tangerang is an agglomeration of Jakarta, a buffer for the megapolitan area.
Tangerang was not purely developed by the government. The public knows that Tangerang transformed into a bright, advanced city due to the touch of housing merchants who developed many satellite residential districts. Swamps and expanses of rice fields were transformed by developers into small towns. This means Tangerang has positioned itself as an area for breeding the kings of Indonesia’s mega property corporations. Local governments clearly lack the authority to widen roads and create attractive open parks.
Again, the Deputy Governor of Banten is correct that Serang City’s infrastructure still needs upgrading. But it should not be forgotten that there is a relationship between the city government and the provincial government. Under the ratio of the Regional Autonomy Law, the province’s status as the central government’s representative in the region is to nurture regions at the city and regency level. The human resources of their apparatus are also differentiated by level. The provincial government also seems to neglect areas that need nurturing and prefers to serve the wishes of the center. One indication is the excessive land expenditure for road access and access to the Panimbang Serang toll road from the Adhiyaksa Hospital (RSA). This hospital is a grand project of the central prosecutor’s office. Imagine, the Banten people’s regional budget (APBD) is asked to fund land acquisition so that there is road access for the hospital to connect directly to the toll road. Super special, isn’t it? Equivalent to an airport. Those displaced are the people of Banten, the constituents of the Deputy Governor and Governor of Banten, the money used is the APBD belonging to the people of Banten. The results of the expenditure are “donated” to facilitate the central prosecutor’s office. This is a form of the Banten provincial government’s service to the will of the center.
Even though that project is a legacy of the old regime, also akin to IKN (the new national capital). Sudden. They found land resulting from corruption case seizures, planned it to become a hospital that same year, and everything was built the following year. They didn’t care that its position was in the middle of the countryside without road access, as long as it could become a grand legacy. Proposed since the heyday of Joko Widodo. Approved by the provincial government leadership during the time of the Acting Governor. The Acting Governor posted the APBD to pay for land acquisition access to the confiscated land point. The Acting Governor was not the result of the Banten people’s election but a central figure planted in the region. It’s not surprising that the central will was immediately approved and secured. Moreover, this is a request from the prosecutor’s office; who would dare refuse? The physical work of the hospital swallowed over IDR 400 billion in phase one and IDR 300 billion in phase two, state budget (APBN) money, handled by a red-plate contractor whose commissioners were still in the same circle as the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises at that time, Erick Thohir.
The prosecutor’s office’s authority to manage a judicial class hospital emerged when there was a change in the Prosecutor’s Office Law. The article regarding that authority was also an additional article. The definition of judicial is a limited scope related to the interests of the prosecutor’s office when handling cases.
Meanwhile, the Banten APBD still needs to face internal problems. Health service issues in Banten are still piling up; the Provincial General Hospital (RSUD)
