Jakarta. Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Pramono Anung has set sights on cracking the top 50 of Kearney’s Global Cities Index as one of his campaign promises. 

Pramono recently had his first face-to-face debate with his rivals Former West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and ex deputy head to the state-run cyber intelligence body BSSN Dharma Pongrekun. The inaugural Jakarta debate showdown had the candidates make their best arguments on what would make the metropolis a global city, which is what the government has envisioned following the capital relocation plans.

That evening, the debate panelists asked Pramono’s response to Jakarta’s lackluster performance in the 2023 Global Cities Index, including on how he would involve Jakarta’s 267 wards -- the smallest administrative unit -- in the human capital development. The 2023 Global Cities Index ranked Jakarta in the 74th place out of 156 cities across the globe. Jakarta was behind some of its fellow ASEAN capitals such as Manila (70th) and Kuala Lumpur (72nd). 

To make Jakarta a global city, Pramono plans on continuing the Kartu Jakarta Pintar (Smart Jakarta Card program) -- an initiative launched by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during his time as governor. This is an assistance program that aims to help Jakarta’s children from poor families to secure 12 years of education. The same goes for the Kartu Jakarta Sehat (Jakarta Health Card) and Kartu Jakarta Mahasiswa Unggul (Jakarta Excellent University Student Card). Both are similar assistance programs which target healthcare and university-level education, respectively. 

“Human capital accounts for 30 percent of the scores in the Global Cities Index, and we have 267 ward units. That’s why we really have to be there for our people through [these three card] initiatives,” Pramono said. 

Pramono also intends to hold job fairs once every three months at the city’s sub-district offices -- and all ward-level government offices if necessary. For reference, a sub-district is a higher administrative unit than a ward. 

“We need to put in the work in these programs in great detail. I’m sure that Jakarta can crack the top 50 of the Global Cities Index in five years should I get elected. That would be a huge increase from where we are now. Jakarta will be on par with Bangkok’s current position,” Pramono said. 

Bangkok came in 45th place in the 2023 Global Cities Index ranking. 

The index showed that Jakarta’s performance had been on the decline. In 2018-2019, Jakarta made it to the 59th place. Jakarta then went down to the 70th place in 2020 and saw an uptick to 67th rank the following year. But Indonesia’s most modern city fell two spots again to 69th place in the 2022 ranking before claiming the 74th spot in the latest report. The Global Cities Index factored in five indicators in its calculations, namely business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The human capital dimension mainly refers to education levels.

The Jakarta gubernatorial election vote-casting will take place on Nov. 27. As many as 8.2 million Jakartans are eligible to vote.