Blame central government for autonomy chaos: Ryaas<\/p>\n
Interview with autonomy initiator, Ryaas Rasyid, state minister
\nof administrative reforms.<\/p>\n
Question: The autonomy law indicates domination by the central
\ngovernment is being retained as shown by the fact that many
\nchapters are requiring the establishment of directive
\nregulations. What is your opinion?<\/p>\n
Answer: Who says the central government remains dominant in
\nthe law? It's true that many think that, but on the other hand
\nthere are other people who say the regions are being given too
\nmuch (authority) already. So who's right?<\/p>\n
As for the required establishment of directive regulations,
\nthat's only because the law was processed in such a short time.
\nWe wanted everything to be settled as soon as possible; otherwise
\nmany people would have accused the government of working at a
\nsnail's pace.<\/p>\n
Q: So the law was hastily produced?<\/p>\n
A: That's true. But not more so than other decrees, other
\npolitical rulings. If it hadn't been (produced) speedily, the
\npublic would have made an uproar.<\/p>\n
Look at how the 1999 general election was carried out. It was
\nso quick, wasn't it? If I had been in the position to carry out
\nthe general election in an ideal manner, I would have decided on
\nholding it in 2002. Would you have waited patiently until 2002 to
\nsee the elections carried out?<\/p>\n
So all of Indonesia is currently in haste. Who is willing to
\nbe patient in this era?<\/p>\n
Q: If we could turn the clock back, how long should the autonomy
\nbill have been processed before it was issued?<\/p>\n
A: Ideally, it would have taken much longer so it could be more
\ndetailed. Had we been able to do it like that we would not have
\nneeded to establish directive regulations or whatever. If we had
\nbeen able to do it completely, we would have needed at least two
\nyears.<\/p>\n
But this is the age of reform, and that length of time would
\nhave been considered too slow.<\/p>\n
In practice, even the implementation of the autonomy law is
\nconsidered too slow, given we can only apply it in 2001. Many
\npeople have said that this is too late.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your assessment of the regions' readiness to implement
\nthe autonomy policy?<\/p>\n
A: The regions have to be ready. Let's not discuss whether or not
\nthey're ready now, because this is a stipulation of the law. If
\nthey're not ready, then (the authority involved) can be
\ntransferred to the higher level administrations.<\/p>\n
If a regency is not ready, then the province can have the
\nauthority. If the province is not ready, then it can always
\nreturn the authority to the central government. The autonomy law
\nsays such things don't matter.<\/p>\n
Q: But the law says there will be no more hierarchical ties
\nbetween governors, regents or mayors?<\/p>\n
A: That is true 'autonomically', but in administrative matters
\n(the hierarchy) remains. The coordination of regencies and cities
\nremains in the hands of the governors, who are the
\nrepresentatives of the central government in regions.<\/p>\n
Q: Some people are worried that autonomy will only create small
\nlords and new waves of corruption in regions. What do you think?<\/p>\n
A: That is such stupid rhetoric. Who's going to be small lords or
\nbig kings? Do you think there's no legislative councils in the
\nregions? Do you think the NGOs in those regions will be silent in
\nthe face of irregularities?<\/p>\n
The public is so critical now. Even newspapers can easily blow
\nup scandals involving officials. Those worries are unnecessary.
\nThere's really no need for us to use the terms 'lords' or
\n'kings'. This is a republic, there are no more kings here. Even
\nAbdurrahman, who is President, is not a king, and he can easily
\nreap criticism every day.<\/p>\n
There will be no small lords in the regions.<\/p>\n
Q: But there are chapters in the autonomy law which give plenty
\nof opportunities for regional officials to, for example,
\nwastefully exploit natural resources...<\/p>\n
A: There are no such things as small lords. The law does not give
\nthe chance. Besides, who dares commit irregularities at this
\ntime? What's not transparent these days? You can know when a
\nregent passes wind.<\/p>\n
So again these opinions are stupid rhetoric. Those who say
\nthat do not realize that times have changed. Those worries are
\nnot necessary, I believe.<\/p>\n
Q: What is going to happen to regions with poor natural
\nresources?<\/p>\n
A: There'll be subsidies called the general fund allocation. It
\nwill be different from dana perimbangan (balance fund), because
\nthis will apply to both rich and poor regions. Of course, the
\namount of subsidies will differ from one region to another
\ndepending on a number of factors such as population, the
\ndimensions of the area and the state of their infrastructures. It
\nwould be unfair if we divided the subsidies equally.<\/p>\n
Justice does not mean equality, but rational portions for all.<\/p>\n
Q: Will this mean a conflict of interest between regions?<\/p>\n
A: Yes, otherwise, if autonomy was not applied and regions were
\ngiven a large amount of space to manage their resources, would
\nthey be able to solve their problems? The central government
\nwould then have to intervene again, and we know that the central
\ngovernment is already a failure. All centralistic schemes have
\nfailed.<\/p>\n
Now we are trying to build regional strength. You can't expect
\nperfection at the outset, you have to give it a chance. Mistakes
\nand shortcomings are normal.<\/p>\n
In the context of autonomy, such shortcomings have to be
\naccepted for Indonesia, a country where not all of its people are
\nwell-educated. And this is not their fault, but the fault of the
\ngovernment for failing to give its people good education.<\/p>\n
What's clear is that the autonomy policy will depend very much
\non the trust of the regions and people in the government.<\/p>\n
Q: We can trust the government to carry out this huge
\nundertaking?<\/p>\n
A: I do, ha..ha..ha. I don't know about other ministers. But how
\ncan we not trust one another when we are all Indonesians?<\/p>\n
Q: Will the poor regions have to depend only on central
\ngovernment subsidies?<\/p>\n
A: They should depend on their own creativity. Many breakthroughs
\ncan be created, for instance, by lifting some restrictions on
\ninvestment, to provide free parcels of land and many others.<\/p>\n
Q: How about increasing taxes and levies?<\/p>\n
A: I wouldn't suggest that because the higher the levies are, the
\nmore reluctant investors will be. Investors will think they're
\ncommitting suicide by entering (regions with high taxation). Nor
\nwould I suggest increasing taxes on residents as it would burden
\nthem even more.<\/p>\n
Q: What will happen when foreign investors venture into regions?<\/p>\n
A: Foreign lending can take place only with the approval of the
\ncentral government. But investment does not require approval.<\/p>\n
Q: How will autonomy take place in areas of conflict, such as
\nAceh, Maluku and Irian Jaya?<\/p>\n
A: There's already a special package of autonomy for them. That's
\nnot yet stipulated in the law, however. The bill on special
\nautonomy for Aceh, for instance, is still under deliberation.<\/p>\n
Q: So they will have a slower version of the autonomy?<\/p>\n
A: That may be so, but perhaps that is because we are slow rather
\nthan because we're waiting for a better situation (to implement
\nthe autonomy there). We're not postponing the drive
\nintentionally, but because the central government has been slow
\nin processing the package.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you think this undertaking will succeed and for how long?<\/p>\n
A: A lot will depend on how we treat the process. We cannot
\nestimate the length of time it will take before the drive
\nsucceeds unless we know the conditions needed to make it a
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
The way I see it, under the current situation, it will take
\nthe drive a long time to succeed. This is because the regulations
\nneeded as guidelines for implementation are yet to be completed.<\/p>\n
Why? Because the central government has been so slow in
\npreparing the guidelines. So any hitch in the drive can be blamed
\non the central government. If the regions find chaos (while
\nimplementing the drive) because they invented their own ruling
\nwhich did not abide by the regulations, the central government is
\nto blame for failing to provide those references.<\/p>\n
So we really need to ask the central government, in this case,
\nthe Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi
\nSudirdja, as he is the one coordinating the drive with other
\nministers.<\/p>\n
Q: Are you saying autonomy will not proceed as planned in January
\n2001?<\/p>\n
A: It will go ahead, but not as smoothly as expected because not
\nall the regulations are in place. On the other hand, some regions
\nhave been so creative, producing decrees without consultation
\nwith the central government, and their regulations are not always
\nin accordance with those already issued.<\/p>\n
But let's not blame the regional administrations, because if
\nthey had not taken action, they would have been accused of
\nfailing to understand the autonomy drive. This is the heart of
\nthe matter: the central government's foot-dragging over the
\nestablishment of the regulations. (Pambudi Utomo)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/blame-central-government-for-autonomy-chaos-ryaas-1447893297",
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