Draft bill on regional autonomy under fire<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government's draft regulation on regional
\nautonomy sparked severe debate here on Tuesday as legislators and
\nexperts criticized its failure to delegate enough authority to
\nthe regions.<\/p>\n
Oesman Sapta, chairman of the 65-member Regional
\nRepresentatives Forum (FUD) at the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR), charged that the provisions in the draft regulation were
\nnot in line with the 1999 law on regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
\"The government should revise the draft regulation because
\nbased on the 1999 law on regional autonomy, the government's
\nauthority should remain only in five fields -- defense, foreign
\npolicy, monetary and fiscal affairs, court and religious
\naffairs,\" Oesman told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The draft regulation is expected to be signed by President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid this week.<\/p>\n
Oesman noted that under its current form the draft would only
\nreinforce the strong role and authority of the central
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
\"If the regulation is issued the central government will
\nremain powerful in all affairs and this is in contradiction to
\nthe concept of regional autonomy,\" he argued.<\/p>\n
According to Oesman, regional administrations hoped the
\nregulation would contain guidelines on the management of their
\nautonomy.<\/p>\n
\"Common guidelines are needed to maintain the unitary state
\nand national unity as well as to prevent interregional
\nconflicts,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Chaidir, speaker of the Riau provincial
\nlegislative council, urged the government not to intervene in the
\ninternal affairs of regions with autonomy because it would
\ndevelop into a strong disintegrative factor for the unitary
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Chaidir said the central government should no longer issue
\nregulations which regulate autonomous administrations if it is
\ncommitted to implementing regional autonomy consistently.<\/p>\n
He supported the idea that the government should only issue
\nguidelines.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a seminar on regional autonomy here on Tuesday,
\nChaidir also proposed that the government, in consultation with
\nthe House of Representatives, issue a regulation to further
\nenforce the 1999 law on fiscal balance between the central and
\nlocal governments.<\/p>\n
Ben Mboi, former East Nusa Tenggara governor, stressed the
\nimportance of guidelines, not regulations, to be set by the
\ncentral government on how regions should develop their autonomy.<\/p>\n
\"The draft regulation stipulates only the government's
\nauthority and nothing really on the regions' own authority,\" said
\nBen.<\/p>\n
But several observers also expressed concern that the
\nambiguity in the draft regulation would lead to conflict.<\/p>\n
Enny Nurbaningsih, a lecturer of economic law at Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta, said 75 percent of the draft
\nregulation's chapters were blank checks for regions as they
\nfailed to regulate just what the regions should do with their
\nauthority in various sectors.<\/p>\n
She said the government should amend the law and issue one
\nwhich would specifically delineate how autonomous administrations
\nshould play their roles in a democratic fashion.<\/p>\n
Endang Sih Prapti, a lecturer at the postgraduate program at
\nGadjah Mada University, said the ambiguity could create
\nmisunderstandings which would only lead to conflict, particularly
\nif the regions perceived they were not given enough authority.<\/p>\n
\"Conflicts in regions could develop into separatism if the
\ngovernment only accedes limited autonomy, as is the case in the
\ncurrent draft regulation,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Stevenson, representing an Irianese NGO at the seminar, called
\non the government to take notice of the needs of the province.<\/p>\n
\"Papua doesn't need such a limited autonomy because it does
\nnot cover contributions the Papuan people have given to the
\ncentral government in the past,\" he said. (rms)<\/p>",
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