Historically, DKI Jakarta was actually a city. This was said by Prof. Dr. Ryaas Rasyid in his information as the expert from the Government side in the fourth trial of the Act No. 32/2004 on Regional Government and Act No.29/2007 on The Government of Capital Specialized Province Jakarta as the Capital City of the Republic of Indonesia, in the Constitutional Court Building, Jakarta, Thursday (26/06).

The file was pleaded by Biem Benjamin who questioned why the autonomy of Jakarta had a single character, that was in the provincial level, and why the mayors and regents in Jakarta were not elected through an election.

"The giving of Provincial status to Jakarta is administratively different from what happened to other provinces. In this case, the provincial status is provided in order that the head of Jakarta regions, at that time the mayors could take part like governors in other provinces," explained Ryaas.

Because of that, Ryaas considered that in the term of decentralization politics, administration reality, and the need of providing equal public service, there is no need of building autonomic character at the levels below the Province.

Similar thing was also said by Prof. Dr. Ryas Zudan Arif Fakrulloh. According to Zudan, the autonomy construction of Article 18, 18A, and 18B of the 1945 Constitution was directed to the fulfillment of people’s need. “the enactment of autonomy only in the provincial level merely supports the effectiveness in conducting the public service,” he explained.

Meanwhile, an expert from the Petitioner side, Prof. Dr. Bhenyamin Hoessein had a different view. Bhenyamin considered that the demographic condition of Jakarta with huge population (7,7 million inhabitants) and the people’s high standard of education needed a more complex democratic practice than in other areas. “The implementation of autonomy in the regional levels beyond the province is one of the realization,” emphasized the Professor from the University of Indonesia. (Kencana Suluh Hikmah translated by Yogi Djatnika)