VZCZCXRO4474
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0106 3030933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300933Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0488
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0477
INFO RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0500
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHBY/USDAO CANBERRA ACT AS
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0187
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

UNCLAS SURABAYA 000106 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEP FOR EAP/MTS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID ID
SUBJECT: JPIP COMPETITION ENCOURAGES GOOD GOVERNANCE, EXPANDS INTO 
OTHER PROVINCES 
 
REF: 08 Surabaya 56 Jawa Pos Awards Innovation in Public Servace Across East Java 
 
¶1. (U) In 2001, Indonesia began a political transformation from 
the centralized system of the Suharto era to a decentralized 
system characterized by high levels of local autonomy.  During 
the intervening eight years, some regency and city governments 
have used this new-found authority to improve the level of 
services they provide to their residents while others have 
failed to meet expectations.  The first in a series of cables 
about at the effects of decentralization on the local 
governments and people of eastern Indonesia, this cable looks at 
one of the largest non-governmental boosters of improved local 
governance, the Jawa Pos Institute for Pro-Autonomy (JPIP). 
Competitions organized by JPIP have both impacted political 
races and encouraged the adoption of best practices by local 
governments.  Subsequent cables will consider specific examples 
of successful as well as sub-par governance. 
 
¶2. (U) Dahlan Iskan, the CEO of the Jawa Pos Group, one of the 
largest media conglomerates in Indonesia, is an unabashed 
supporter of greater local government autonomy. In an effort to 
improve local governance, he established the Jawa Pos Institute 
for Pro-Autonomy (JPIP) in 2001, an NGO focused on promoting 
good governance at the local level.  While under the auspices of 
the media group, JPIP does not act as a media entity.  Rather, 
it focuses its activities on both researching and promoting 
good-governance best practices.  JPIP's central program is an 
annual good-governance competition among all the local 
governments in East Java, now in its ninth year (Reftel).  In 
East Java, incumbents in regencies that scored poorly on JPIP's 
survey of government services found their re-election prospects 
dim. 
 
¶3. (U) Based on JPIP's success, the Jawa Pos decided to expand 
outside East Java.  The group established a second organization 
in Makassar, South Sulawesi, in 2008.  As one of the largest and 
economically important cities in eastern Indonesia, Makassar was 
a clear choice for this second institute.  The Fajar Institute 
for Pro-Autonomy (FIPO) operates under the auspices of the Jawa 
Pos Group newspaper in South Sulawesi, the Fajar, and is 
independent of JPIP.  FIPO completed its first good governance 
competition in May 2009.  While it is too early to tell if 
performing poorly in this competition will correlate with 
electoral defeat for the Regents in South Sulawesi, the 
competition has already garnered outside attention.  The 
inaugural event was successful enough to induce the Government 
of Canada to provide a grant to FIPO to add Gender Equality to 
the list of categories graded in next year's competition. 
 
¶4. (U) The Jawa Pos Group is establishing a third pro-autonomy 
institute in East Kalimantan, due in large part to Dahlan 
Iskan's close ties to the province - he attended a year of 
University in Samarinda prior to becoming a journalist and 
reportedly considers it to be a second home.  Dubbed the Jawa 
Pos Institute for Pro-Autonomy East Kalimantan (JPIP Kaltim), 
this institute will hold a similar competition in that province. 
 Preparations are underway for its first competition, which is 
scheduled to be completed in 2010.  While there are clear 
reasons for establishing these institutes in South Sulawesi and 
East Kalimantan, JPIP told PolOff that there are no current 
plans to create further institutes in other provinces. 
 
¶5. (U) These competitions provide valuable insight into the 
workings of local governments in the current environment of 
decentralization and local autonomy.  In some cases in the East 
Java competition, regencies languish at the bottom of the 
competition for years, seemingly incapable of improving public 
services, while other regencies regularly win various categories 
of the competitions.   However, in many cases in both East Java 
and now in South Sulawesi, the successes of one regency or city 
are duplicated by others.  For example, Sinjai regency, in South 
Sulawesi, received the highest score in the Health Service 
category for providing health insurance to the public.  Several 
regencies from as far away as West Java have sought to copy 
Sinjai's health insurance program.  Similarly, Surabaya won an 
award in the 2006 JPIP competition for its program to ensure 
that there was one tree planted in the city for each resident. 
This program has since been duplicated, with some local 
adaptations, by local governments in Lumajang and Gresik.  The 
adoption of best practices by other cities and regencies 
represents the greatest potential lasting impact of these 
competitions. 
 
MCCLELLANDCR