Stanley Weiss : Surabaya's Mrs. Mayor: Indonesia's Best-Kept Secret

Tulisan mengenai Tri Rismaharini di buat oleh Founding Chairman, Business Executives for National Security huffingtonpost.com, Stanley Weiss. Untuk tulisan aslinya silahkan cek disini

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Surabaya, Indonesia--Here, in Indonesia's second-largest city, legend tells of a titanic battle between Sura, the great white shark, and Baya, the crocodile. Meeting in a river one day, the two creatures fought ferociously for supremacy of the animal kingdom. The place where they clashed became known as "Surabaya," the city of the shark and the crocodile, emblematic of the repeated waves of colonial sharks and crocodiles that have controlled the city for centuries.

Settled in the late 1200's on the northern shore of East Java, Surabaya rose to become a major Southeast Asian port and trading center, frequently fought over and eventually controlled by the Dutch East Indies Company for over three centuries. The Dutch surrendered to Japanese troops in 1942, who occupied the country until their surrender to the Allies in 1945.

After the nationalist leader, Sukarno, declared Indonesia's independence on August 17, 1945, violence broke out between Indonesian freedom fighters and the Dutch and British, who returned to the country to take possession of Allied prisoners of war. A British brigadier-general was killed in the crossfire, and the enraged British attacked Surabaya. The bloody Battle of Surabaya is celebrated as a turning point in Indonesia's war of independence. Ever since, Indonesians have called it "the City of Heroes."

Today, Surabaya has a new hero in the form of its hands-on mayor, Tri Rismaharini, who is breathing new life into the city. Better known as "Ibu Risma"--"Mother Risma"--Surabaya's mayor is part of a rising generation of new leaders, empowered by the decentralization of authority across Indonesia and ready to seize the reins of national leadership.

Many mornings at 5:30am, "Mrs. Mayor" can be found picking up trash along the roadside. In the afternoons, she hands out balls to children in the parks while reminding them to study hard. At night, she patrols the parks, scolding underage youth for breaking curfew. If traffic gets snarled, she's been known to get out of her car and direct it herself. She also hosts a radio call-in show, fielding questions about evictions, clogged drains, and the occasional obscenity.

An architecture major, Risma rose to prominence in 2005 as head of the city parks department. Long known as an unlovely industrial port--one Dutch novelist called it "a dirty city full of pretensions and greed"--Surabaya under Risma has become "Sparkling Surabaya."

At her direction, brothels have been converted into kindergartens and old gas station lots into playgrounds. Banners bearing anti-littering slogans hang throughout the city, winning Surabaya a dozen environmental awards as a pioneering eco-city while inspiring the local populace: last year, Surabaya was named the city with the best public participation in Asia Pacific.

Though parks are her passion, Risma speaks proudly of her administration's program to provide free education and healthcare for the underprivileged--all the while streamlining the city's bureaucracy to eliminate inefficiency. The daughter of small business owners, Risma travels widely to other cities to study successful public innovations, adopting improved streetlights from Berlin and better teaching techniques from Seoul.

One of her main goals is to develop not just the city's infrastructure and economy, but also its people, through education and awareness programs--spending 35 percent of Surabaya's budget on education, far higher than the national standard.

"I don't really understand practical politics," Risma confesses--somewhat surprisingly given her achievements. And it's true that she was almost removed in her first year as mayor, after she angered entrenched interests with a proposal to raise tariffs on large billboards while lowering them for small business advertisements. When she was head of the city's building development, Risma and her family received death threats for implementing the country's first completely transparent, e-procurement system. Yet the system, in her words "saved anywhere from 20%-25%," while freeing up resources to build "better quality roads, new bridges and pedestrian areas."

Risma has forged important partnerships with the private sector, and is savvy navigating the country's bureaucracy. On just her second day in office, Risma visited Indonesia's vice president to discuss a critical port development project that had languished for decades. Despite repeated efforts to brush her off, Risma refused to leave the office until they agreed to begin construction.

The port groundbreaking took place a week later--and not a moment too soon. Surabaya's port has experienced a 200 percent increase in traffic in recent years. The improvements will boost efficiency and increase capacity as the port continues to serve as a gateway to other parts of the country.

Risma has also met with Belgian officials to discuss a potential "sister city agreement" between Surabaya and Antwerp, home to one of Europe's most important seaports. It would evolve the current system by allowing cargo to bypass Singapore, greatly reducing shipping fees between the two ports while making them more competitive.

It is creative ideas like these that have helped boost Surabaya's economic growth to over 7.5 percent since Risma took office in 2010--while earning her Globe Asia's prestigious 2012 Women Leader Award.

It has also led some to wonder if Risma's combination of understated competence and leadership are precisely the qualities that Indonesia most needs as it begins to emerge on the world stage. As Tempo magazine put it in a recent profile of Risma, the solution to Indonesia's problems may lie in the "inspirational" work of Indonesia's political outsiders, though "their names do not appear on the front pages of the national media and the regions they govern are far from the glitz of Jakarta."

"I don't have political ambitions," Risma insists. "To become a mayor, governor or even president is an extraordinary responsibility. It's not just about solving a flood problem or things like that. It's about helping the people to develop and be successful."

While she speaks, I note the seal of the city of Surabaya--a battling shark and crocodile. As mayor, Ibu Risma has learned to tame the clash of fiercely competing interests. What more might she do for all of Indonesia?

Stanley Weiss, a former global mining CEO and founder of Washington-based Business Executives for National Security, has been widely published on domestic and international issues for four decades.

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Wawancara Tri Rismaharini Di Mata Najwa

TRIBUNNEWS.COM, JAKARTA — Wali Kota Surabaya Tri Rismaharini menarik perhatian warga media sosial saat tampil dalam acara Mata Najwa di Metro TV, Rabu (12/2/2014) malam. Kata kunci "Bu Risma" menjadi "Indonesia trending topic" atau topik yang banyak diperbincangkan warga Indonesia di Twitter.

Di acara tersebut, Najwa Shihab, pemandu acara, mengorek seputar isu pengunduran diri Risma sebagai Wali Kota Surabaya. Meski tak menjawab lugas, Risma menunjukkan kesan melalui ekspresi wajahnya bahwa ia menghadapi tekanan terkait tanggung jawabnya sebagai Wali Kota.

Risma sempat menangis saat bertutur tentang kisah anak-anak yang menjadi pekerja seks komersial di kawasan Dolly, Surabaya. Sambil terisak, Risma tak kuasa menjawab pertanyaan Najwa tentang apa yang terjadi dengan remaja perempuan yang ia jumpai di sana.

"Saya tidak tega," katanya terbata. Air matanya menetes.

Risma kembali tak menjawab secara lugas ketika Najwa kembali melontarkan pertanyaan mengapa Risma punya keinginan mundur sebagai Wali Kota. Ia hanya terdiam. Wajahnya terlihat murung. Ia bahkan tak berani berjanji untuk mengurungkan niatnya mundur.

Penampilan Risma mengundang perbincangan di Twitter. "Warga twitterland" menyuarakan simpati dan dukungan kepada Risma agar tak mundur sebagai Wali Kota.

Akun @InfinitySby, berkicau, "Merinding, dan meneteskan air mata lht bu Risma di @MataNajwa."

Akun @muntasir92 menulis, "Bu Risma walikota dengan puluhan penghargaan, penuh dedikasi, tulus.. Tapi ada aja yang mau lengserin..."

Akun @farahsanib menyuarakan dukungan, "Jangan pernah menyerah Bu Risma, warga Surabaya masih semangat mendukungmu! #SaveRisma."

Akun @graceerb memberikan semangat, "bu risma, the bravest people ever. semangat buuuuk."

Malam ini, sosok Risma seperti menyedot perhatian seperti diungkap akun @lyla_aku, "banyak juga warga indonesia yang respect bu risma... Luar biasa."

Risma menarik perhatian publik setelah dipandang berhasil mengubah Kota Surabaya yang semula dikenal kotor dan panas menjadi asri dan bersih. Di bawah kepemimpinannya, Surabaya meraih sejumlah penghargaan internasional, seperti "The 2013 Asian Townscape Sector Award" dari PBB untuk Taman Bungkul Surabaya.

Risma juga menjadi sorotan internasional. Namanya masuk sebagai kandidat wali kota terbaik dunia pada 2012 bersama Joko Widodo yang saat itu menjadi Wali Kota Surakarta.

Sejak kabar kemunduran Risma merebak beberapa waktu lalu, muncul gerakan di media sosial Twitter dengan tagar saverisma (#saverisma).

Biografi Tri Rismaharini

 

Ir. Tri Rismaharini, M.T. atau terkadang ditulis Tri Risma Harini (lahir di Kediri, Jawa Timur, 20 Oktober 1961; umur 52 tahun) adalah Wali Kota Surabaya yang menjabat sejak 28 September 2010. Ia adalah Wali Kota Surabaya wanita yang pertama dan alumnus Arsitektur ITS Ia menggantikan Bambang Dwi Hartono yang kemudian menjabat sebagai wakilnya hingga resmi mengundurkan diri pada 14 Juni 2013. Mereka diusung oleh partai PDI-P dan memenangi pilkada dengan jumlah suara 358.187 suara atau sebesar 38,53 persen. Pasangan ini dilantik pada tanggal 28 September 2010

Prestasi

Sebelum terpilih menjadi wali kota, Risma pernah menjabat Kepala Dinas Kebersihan dan Pertamanan (DKP) dan Kepala Badan Perencanaan Kota Surabaya hingga tahun 2010. Di masa kepemimpinannya di DKP, bahkan hingga kini menjadi Walikota Surabaya, Kota Surabaya menjadi lebih asri dibandingkan sebelumnya, lebih hijau dan lebih segar. Sederet taman kota yang dibangun di era Tri Risma adalah pemugaran taman Bungkul di Jalan Raya Darmo dengan konsep all-in-one entertainment park, taman di Bundaran Dolog, taman Undaan, serta taman di Bawean, dan di beberapa tempat lainnya yang dulunya mati sekarang tiap malam dipenuhi dengan warga Surabaya. Selain itu Risma juga berjasa membangun pedestrian bagi pejalan kaki dengan konsep modern di sepanjang jalan Basuki Rahmat yang kemudian dilanjutkan hingga jalan Tunjungan, Blauran, dan Panglima Sudirman. Di bawah kepemimpinannya pula, Kota Surabaya meraih tiga kali piala adipura yaitu tahun 2011, 2012, dan 2013 kategori kota metropolitan. Selain itu, kepemimpinan Tri Risma juga membawa Surabaya menjadi kota yang terbaik partisipasinya se-Asia Pasifik pada tahun 2012 versi Citynet atas keberhasilan pemerintah kota dan partisipasi rakyat dalam mengelola lingkungan. Pada Oktober 2013, Kota Surabaya dibawah kepemimpinannya memperoleh penghargaan tingkat Asia-Pasifik yaitu Future Government Awards 2013 di 2 bidang sekaligus yaitu data center dan inklusi digital menyisihkan 800 kota di seluruh Asia-Pasifik.

Isu Pemberhentian

Belum setahun menjabat, pada tanggal 31 Januari 2011, Ketua DPRD Surabaya Whisnu Wardhana menurunkan Risma dengan hak angketnya. Alasannya adalah karena adanya Peraturan Wali Kota Surabaya (Perwali) Nomor 56 tahun 2010 tentang Perhitungan nilai sewa reklame dan Peraturan wali kota Surabaya Nomor 57 tentang perhitungan nilai sewa reklame terbatas di kawasan khusus kota Surabaya yang menaikkan pajak reklame menjadi 25%. Risma dianggap telah melanggar undang-undang, yaitu Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri (Permendagri) nomor 16/2006 tentang prosedur penyusunan hukum daerah dan Undang-Undang Nomor 32 Tahun 2004 yang telah diubah dengan Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2008. Sebab Walikota tidak melibatkan Satuan Kerja Perangkat Daerah (SKPD) terkait dalam membahas maupun menyusun Perwali.

Keputusan ini didukung oleh 6 dari 7 fraksi politik yang ada di dewan, termasuk PDI-P yang mengusungnya. Hanya fraksi PKS yang menolak dengan alasan belum cukup bukti dan data.

Tentang Perwali nomor 57 yang diterbitkannya itu, Risma beralasan, pajak di kawasan khusus perlu dinaikkan agar pengusaha tidak seenaknya memasang iklan di jalan umum, dan agar kota tak menjadi belantara iklan. Dengan pajak yang tinggi itu, pemerintah berharap, pengusaha iklan beralih memasang iklan di media massa, ketimbang memasang baliho di jalan-jalan kota.

Akhirnya, Mendagri Gamawan Fauzi angkat bicara akan hal ini dan menegaskan bahwa Tri Risma tetap menjabat sebagai Walikota Surabaya dan menilai alasan pemakzulan Risma adalah hal yang mengada-ngada. Belakangan kemudian beredar kabar bahwa hal ini disebabkan banyaknya kalangan DPRD Kotamadya Surabaya yang 'tidak senang' dengan sepak terjang politik Tri Risma yang terkenal tidak 'kompromi' dan terus maju berjuang membangun Kota Surabaya, termasuk menolak keras pembangunan tol tengah Kota Surabaya yang dinilai tidak akan bermanfaat untuk mengurai kemacetan dan lebih memilih meneruskan proyek frontage road dan MERR-IIC (Middle East Ring Road) yang akan menghubungkan area industri Rungkut hingga ke Jembatan Suramadu via area timur Surabaya yang juga akan bermanfaat untuk pemerataan pembangunan kota.