Challenges for new officers of the Indonesian Planners Association

The Indonesian Planners Association or Ikatan Ahli Perencanaan (IAP) was founded in 13 April 1971 in Jakarta. The initial name of the organization was Ikatan Ahli Perancang and it was initiated by the first alumni of the Urban and Regional Planning Department of the Bandung Institute of Technology including Djoko Sujarto and Tubagus M. Rais.

The first elected chairman of IAP was Kus Hadinoto and the elected secretary was W.J. Waworontoe. They served from 1971 to 1976. The leaderships of IAP has changed 8 times since then. Following is the leaderships of IAP with their respective period of services:

1. 1976-1982: Tubagus M. Rais (chair) and Syarif Puradimadja (secretary)
2. 1982-1989: Aca Sugandhy (chair) and Hoedyono (secretary)
3. 1989-1994: Sugijanto Soegijoko (chair) and Bambang Bintoro Soedjito (general secretary)
4. 1994-1997: Sudjana Royat (chair) and Tatag Wiranto (general secretary)
5. 1997-2000: Bambang Bintoro Soedjito (chair) and Ruchyat Deni DJ (general secretary)
6. 2000-2004: Kemal Taruc (chair) and Nuryasin (general secretary)
7. 2004-2007: Tatag Wiranto (chair) and Agung Mulyana (general secretary)
8. 2007-2010: Iman Soedrajat (chair) and Bernardus Djonoputro (general secretary)

The current leadership was elected on 31 October 2007 in Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta. The elected chair appointed Jimmy S. Michael as the chair of the Ethic Assembly and Abdul Alim Salam as the chair of the Planning Certification Board.

Prior to the election, IAP held a seminar themed "Enhancing the competence of planning in Indonesia" and the Minister of Public Works -Djoko Kirmanto- gave the keynote speech.

The presence of the Minister of Public Works in the seminar was a sign of visibility of planners in Indonesia. The establishment of the spatial planning law in early 2007 (UU 26/2007 tentang Penataan Ruang) also solidifies the visibility of planners in Indonesia. This law is a good cause for planners to be visible in contributing for making better places in Indonesia.

Unlike previous IAP leaderships, the current IAP leadership has no longer such challenge as the visibility of planner. The visibility of planner has been granted to the current leadership from previous IAP leaderships and particularly from the establishment of the spatial planning law. The challenge of the current IAP leadership is to enhance the competence of planners in making better places and alleviating urban and regional problems in Indonesia.

riverside view, originally uploaded by Dana Riza.

To take a lead in enhancing the competence of planners, IAP should develop itself toward a well-respected organization. IAP should be the voice of planners, dedicated to serving and enhancing the professionalism of its members. The new officers of IAP should address the following questions when they devise their working agenda:

• To what extent has IAP voiced the needs, opinions, and aspirations of planners in Indonesia?
• To what extent has IAP served and enhanced the professionalism of its members?

The new IAP officers also need to pay attention to the membership. Membership is very important key in developing an organization. Lack of interest from Indonesian planners to join IAP is the big issue that needs to be seriously addressed. IAP should demonstrate that they can voice the needs, opinions, and aspirations of planners in Indonesia and enhance their professionalism. The database of IAP members which is available at IAP website (accessed on November 1, 2007) shows the total number of IAP members was 1,384 and most of them have not renewed their membership yet. As a comparison, the total number of active member of the American Planning Association is 43,000. The new IAP officers need to create a breakthrough to get survived and entice planners in Indonesia to join IAP.

In addition, the current IAP officers should expand the collaboration with all members of planning community including planning academia and planning consulting firms. IAP should continuosly expand their communication and collaboration with the Association of Indonesian Planning Schools (ASPI) and the National Association of Indonesian Consultants (INKINDO) in order to enhance the competence of planners in Indonesia.