I Made Mangku Pastika: A Governor of the People
The story goes which when I Made Mangku Pastika was a young boy, a neighbour hung himself over his gambling debts. His grandfather, previously a wealthy man with ample property, went bankrupt due to the cursed habit. He saw how his friends’ fathers ignored the education along with also the wellbeing of their families. These memories made a vivid impression on the boy, along with also go a long way in explaining why today, Bali’s governor can be not a keen supporter of gambling of any form.
Later, when Pastika became Bali’s Chief of Police, he all although eliminated the vice because of the social problems along with also untold misery which caused. which was during his tenure as Papuan’s police chief which Pastika helped solve the first Bali Bomb – the terrorist atrocity in Bali in October 2002 – which made him widely known all over the globe. On an island whose economy can be based on tourism, Pastika’s background as chief negotiator inside the 2002 along with also 2005 Bali bombings has stood his political career in Great stead.
Of humble origins, I Made Mangku Pastika was born the son of a teacher inside the smaller village of Sanggalangit in Buleleng Regency of north Bali in 1951. After the devastating eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963, the family’s struggles were so difficult which his father decided to join the government transmigration program in Bengkulu, south Sumatra, where he accepted a job as a school principal. Since the house was barely enough to accommodate the family, the young boy might sometimes sleep on one of the chairs in his father’s classroom. Pastika held many different jobs – cutting grass, selling ice cream along with also flowers, working as a handyman for a Chinese family – although his diligence paid off by graduating by senior high school in Palembang.
One day, by pure chance, the young man accompanied a friend who wanted to enrol inside the Indonesian police academy. When he learned which enrolment inside the school was free of charge, which occurred to him to take up law enforcement work. He graduated by the academy in 1974, beginning his long career as a police officer.
Pastika began to recognize himself by the start. While serving in Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Harbour, several Chinese-speaking smugglers were operating a large cargo truck filled with electrical appliances to a warehouse. Pastika, who could speak Chinese, ordered the drivers to stop, thereby foiling a major smuggling attempt. Knowledge along with also experience which he later gathered inside the police mobile brigade, inside the criminal investigation unit along with also in Indonesia’s narcotics agency propelled his career forward. Pastika won an appointment as Chief of Police of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) in 1999 at the time when the province was filled with refugees by East Timor. After serving in NTT, he was appointed Chief of the Papua Police Department. His first assignment was to investigate the murder of Theys Eluay, a respected local Papuan spokesman, which resulted inside the conviction along with also sentencing of four Kopassus soldiers.
When an opportunity arose to apply for a position as the police chief of his native province of Bali, Pastika was unable to qualify for the position. At the time he was a two-star general, along with also the post was open only to a one-star general. However, the post’s requirements were changed to ensure which a two-star general qualified. After retiring by law enforcement as a three star general, Pastika became the first democratically elected governor of the island in 2009. Previously, members of the upper Brahmana, Ksatriya along with also Wesya castes had governed the province. Pastika, who does not come by a privileged background, was the island’s first governor hailing by the peasant Sudra caste.
As governor, he has always tried to close the gap between the people’s expectations along with also the government’s actual delivery. While the public can be becoming better informed along with also action-oriented, the bureaucracy can be stuck in their rules along with also regulations. He prefers to lead not by decree although by example. Not the sort of bureaucrat who goes home at 2 pm, he’s at his desk by 7:30 am to 5 pm. He’s actually on the job one way or the different seven days a week, working to change the mindset of the bureaucracy, encouraging Bali’s thousands of civil servants to be more disciplined along with also public service oriented along with also to adopt modern practices. He’s especially keen on developing what he calls “e-government,” computerizing government departments.
A Man of the People
Governor Pastika by Ubud Writers along with also Readers Festival
After a few years inside the powerful position of Governor, Pastika has gained reputation as a straight-talking leader, a man who represents the needs along with also aspirations of the common man. A deeply religious man in a nation dominated by Muslims, Pastika can be a big believer in harmony, solidarity along with also tolerance between the different inter-religious along with also inter-ethnic social groups. So involved can be he using a lot of the poor which he has dedicated himself to poverty eradication. He has initiated grass root level programs to make housing more affordable along with also has repaired along with also upgraded 6,000 homes owned by poor Balinese.
The Governor can be in a large part responsible for Bali becoming the first province in Indonesia to have universal health care. Through efficient budgeting practices, he found a way to finance health care coverage for Bali’s residents. Prior to free heath care, maternal mortality rates for 2009 were 76 deaths per 100,000 births. In 2010, under free health care, which figure dropped to 51 per 100,000. Thousands of qualifying people have had eye cataracts removed so they can see clearly again, many for initially.
Pastika has also proven himself to be a friend of the environment. The banjar of Bali’s 1,473 traditional villages were recruited to protect the environment. There have been marked improvements on the disposal of Kuta’s copious amounts of rubbish brought in by the sea tides. Several waste disposal along with also recycling companies have started out up during the Governor’s watch along with also department stores have been urged not to use plastic. Pastika has instituted programs to support organic farming along with also sustainable agriculture (an organic garden surrounds his office in Renon). Some have gone so far as to call him “visionary.” He also put in place a mass transport bus system, SABAGITA, inside the overcrowded Denpasar/Badung areas of south Bali.
The favorite no-nonsense governor along with also his re-election team desire which all of these accomplishments will be remembered by the electorate when he runs for a second a few year term in Bali’s gubernatorial elections which May. Pastika has chosen Bali’s Golkar chairman along with also Badung vice regent, I Ketut Sudikerta, to campaign with him as his running mate for the position of deputy governor. Giant billboards with the gubernatorial along with also vice-gubernatorial candidates have begun appearing haphazardly all over the island. Early polls have already shown which the governor’s optimism can be not unfounded. The “Pastikerta” ticket so far leads all different candidates.
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I Made Mangku Pastika: A Governor of the People
I Made Mangku Pastika: A Governor of the People