THE EDITOR – Makassar Mayor Moh. Ramdhan “Danny” Pomanto is back in office after having approximately two months of campaign leave. On his first day at work, he immediately fixed the government system that had stagnated when he was absent.
The improvements were made after Danny led the first ceremony on Monday (25/11/2024). He immediately held a coordination meeting with all Regional Government Organisations (OPD), Sub-District Heads, and Village Heads in the Sipakatau Room, City Hall.
WHAT DID HE FIND?
Danny said that Makassar has regressed over the past two months. Many programmes that used to run have stagnated, and as a result, garbage has piled up in people’s homes for two months straight.
“The garbage was not picked up because there were no garbage motors – they were all broken,” he said.
He suspected that there were people who wanted to destroy the development order of Makassar City that he had compiled so far. It is because there is a budget for garbage collection and previously ran smoothly.
“There is a budget, but the garbage collection motorbikes are not allowed to go. It stagnated for two months. Maybe there are people on purpose. I suspect they were entrusted to destroy Makassar. This is very damaged stuff. I am worried about the people,” he said.
Danny suspected that the OPD concerned is indeed not implementing the programmes that have been set. However, he does not want the community to become victims of the OPD’s internal conflict.
“Maybe they are under pressure. But whatever the reason, don’t sacrifice the comfort of the people by making the programme not work,” he said.
“It’s greatly hard to make a budget. Look at it now, rubbish everywhere. That’s why I say Makassar City must be cleaned,” he continued.
Danny said that he has made many programmes to encourage development in Makassar, especially those that directly benefit the citizens.
He considered that the OPD concerned did not want to support the convenience and interests of the people of Makassar City.
Due to the accumulated waste, Danny Pomanto promised to immediately evaluate the OPD concerned and reactivate the programmes it deliberately shut down.
Meanwhile, to oversee the election, he asked the sub-districts and villages as well as OPDs to participate in creating a peaceful people’s party. Considering Makassar is one of the cities prone to conflict, he asked the civil apparatus (ASN) to be neutral.
“We live in an area that is prone to political fraud. The Makassar City Government wants to prove that this is not true, by making sure that ASN works neutrally and impartially. By that, the Makassar City Government has become an example of a good and peaceful election organiser,” he said.
“I want all the ends of the aisle, the ends of the village to be guarded 24 hours. It is a must. I see that it is very damaged. Bribes ‘attacking’ in afternoon, evening, even midnight. This is shameful. It’s like there are no officials there,” he said.
Not only OPD, sub-district heads, and village heads. Danny also asked Bawaslu to participate in maintaining the smooth running of the election in order to make sure there will be no violation.
