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The Reluctant Leaders of Our Neighborhood
What grassroots democracy looks like in Indonesia.
I recently attended the ‘election’ of our neighborhood head (Ketua Rukun Tetangga or Head of RT) — an event that’s more about confirming the inevitable than choosing new leadership.
In my neighborhood, becoming the Head of RT isn’t about ambition — it’s about survival.
If no one else wants it, guess what? The job is yours, indefinitely.
A Role Nobody Wants
In Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia, neighborhoods are organized into RTs (Rukun Tetangga) and RWs (Rukun Warga). Each RT typically consists of 30–50 households, while an RW oversees several RTs, often ranging from 5 to 20 depending on the area’s population density.
The head of RT may not wield much power, but their role is indispensable in managing local issues, from security and waste collection to organizing community events and solving disputes within the neighborhood.
Our beloved Ibu (Mrs.) RT, as we call her, is a 69-year-old woman who has been leading our neighborhood for over a decade. Her journey to leadership wasn’t intentional.
About 12 years ago, when her husband, the previous Head of RT, passed away, no one else wanted to take over. Through musyawarah untuk…
