The Jakarta administration and the new City Council have kicked off deliberation of the draft 2020 city budget priorities and ceiling (KUA-PPAS) and plan to hold a meeting marathon amid mounting pressure to complete it before Nov. 30, a deadline set by the Home Ministry. The administration has proposed to the new councilors a budget ceiling of Rp 89.44 trillion (US$6.35 billion), a Rp 6.4 trillion decline from the previous draft submitted in July to the previous city councilors. As the deliberation of the draft was stalled during the previous period, it proceeded to the new members of the city council who were inaugurated on Aug. 26. Should they fail to meet the deadline, the Jakarta Council and city administration would be denied their financial rights for six months as an administrative sanction, as stipulated in the 2014 Regional Government Law. City secretary Saeful...