Suwarga Channels People’s Voice

KOMPAS/ZULKARNAINI

A woman holds up a mobile phone showing the Suwarga application, designed by the Banda Aceh administration in Aceh province to provide a public facility for lodging online complaints. The application enables residents to easily report local problems for the relevant agencies to follow up.

The Banda Aceh municipal administration has developed an application for its residents to lodge public complaints. The application promotes civil participation in developing the provincial capital, by offering a channel for residents to report problems and for the administration to respond immediately. Suwarga is a platform for the residents’ voices.

On his way to the office, Furqan, 20, a resident of Banda Aceh, Aceh province, saw a pile of garbage on the side of the main thoroughfare. He took a picture and uploaded it through his mobile phone to the public complaints application, Suwarga.

A moment later, Suwarga administrator Andri Darnius received the complaint in a room at the Banda Aceh Communication, Information and Statistics Agency. Andri verified the location and substance of the complaint according to procedure. He then forwarded the complaint to the City Environment, Hygiene and Beautification Agency.

Within two minutes, Andri had received confirmation from the environment agency administrator that the complaint was being handled. Three hours later, Andri received a message saying that the complaint had been followed up, accompanied by a photo of public service officers carrying away the garbage from the location in Furqan’s photograph.

Andri forwarded the follow-up response to Furqan.

"Any reported problem is generally handled quickly," Furqan said at the end of June.

The Suwarga public complaints application has made it easier for Furqan to report any problems to the municipal administration. He mostly reports issues related to parking, garbage, potholes and clean water.

Many other residents in the provincial capital appreciate the public complaints application, which was developed by the Banda Aceh municipal administration. Husna is one such resident, who said that the application made it easier for Banda Aceh’s residents to voice their aspirations. "However, it must be guaranteed that all [reports] receive a response and are followed up. If so, the residents will be interested in using it," she said.

Available for Android since April 2018, the majority of pubic complaints concern waste and clean water. However, less than 200 residents have downloaded the app.

When residents want to report the problems [they see] around them, it means that [they] care.

The app had been publicized poorly, so that many residents still did not know that it existed, said Husna, even though the availability of such an application was important to residents. "When residents want to report the problems [they see] around them, it means that [they] care," she said.

Banda Aceh communication agency head Bustami said that only 10 out of 36 city offices and agencies were currently integrated with Suwarga: the Regional Disaster Management Agency, the Social Services

Agency, Transportation Agency, Manpower Agency, the Fire Department, Law and Order Agency, Education Agency, Public Works Agency, Sanitation Agency and the Youth and Sports Agency. "In the future, all offices and agencies will be integrated," he said.

Suwarga accommodates 43 categories/issues that these 10 institutions manage, including parking, waste, clean water services, truant students, homeless people and beggars, and disasters.

Low-key marketing

Bustami said that the use of Suwarga was not widespread massive because it had not been publicized aggressively. The application only has 127 registered accounts. The number of complaints is minimal at only about one per day.

"We promote it on car free days, through banners, advertisements in mass media and through social media. A special budget would be required for mass promotion," he said.

Suwarga was initially introduced in 2014 as an online application. As this format was deemed less effective because it was difficult to access, it was redeveloped into a mobile application for Android and launched In April 2018 by Banda Aceh Mayor Aminullah Usman.

Reports submitted through Suwarga will be followed up by officers [of the relevant agencies]

Aminullah said that Suwarga was an effort to use technology to encourage civil participation in urban development, and one of the administration’s strategic programs to transform Banda Aceh into a smart city. "Reports submitted through Suwarga will be followed up by officers [of the relevant agencies]," he said.

As the provincial capital, Banda Aceh has taken the initiative to pioneer smart city development. Before, it had primarily used digital technology internally to facilitate electronic planning and budgeting for city employees.

Bustami said that the city\'s residents were becoming increasingly critical of urban problems as technology continued to advance, which was why Suwarga was developed. Suwarga was developed by informatics technology staff at the Banda Aceh communication agency and practically cost nothing.

"We have qualified technology experts. If other regional governments want to adopt this concept, we are ready to share [our] knowledge," he said.

Suwarga is one example of using technology to make a positive impact, allowing people to be involved in developing the city they call home.