JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Popular Jakarta Governor Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has once again stated firmly that his administration would not issue permits for developers to build shopping malls in the capital city.
Jokowi mentioned Jakarta as a city with way too many shopping malls in the world.
“There are 173 shopping malls. But I have stopped it. There must be a balance in the development in the city accentuating social side, cultural, and religion,” said Jokowi on Monday (Sep 16) noon.
The PDI-P politician pointed to various authentic buildings like the Istiqlal and Sunda Kelapa mosques, that depicted Jakarta’s diversity as designed by Bung Karno (a popular name of Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia).
Jokowi, however, noted that 14 permits on building shopping malls have been issued by previous Jakarta’s administration.
After sworn in as new Governor of Jakarta in November 2012, Jokowi said he will stop the development of shopping malls in the city.
Similar policy was also implemented when Jokowi served as Mayor of Surakarta (commonly known as Solo) in Central Java. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)