Regional autonomy 'not as easy as it sounds'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rasyid
\ndenied the central government was being tardy in its preparations
\nto implement regional autonomy, saying officials were
\npainstakingly drafting the necessary arrangements to make the
\nprogram workable.<\/p>\n
"The implementation of regional autonomy is not as easy as it
\nsounds. It could bring less changes to regions and even become
\nunused if everything is done too abruptly," he said in a seminar
\non regional autonomy organized by the West Kalimantan Community
\nin Jakarta (IKKB) here on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Many sides, including the IKKB, have criticized the
\ngovernment for dragging its feet in making preparations to
\nimplement the much-anticipated regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
Ryaas defended himself against the criticism, contending that
\nas much as it would like to, the government cannot act as fast as
\nmany desire as the implementation of regional autonomy requires
\nthe establishment of "strong software and hardware".<\/p>\n
"The two laws on regional autonomy and on fiscal balance are
\nnot adequate to be held as a legal basis for implementing
\nautonomy. Besides issuing a number of new regulations to enforce
\nthe two laws, the government also has to amend many other laws to
\nsynchronize them with the autonomy implementation. And all this
\nwork needs a relatively long time," he said.<\/p>\n
He cited as an example that his office in cooperation with
\nother ministries was drafting at least ten government regulations
\nto start implementing autonomy in January 2001.<\/p>\n
"The most crucial and long-awaited is the regulation on
\npowersharing between the central and provincial
\nadministrations ... The division of authority must be clear-cut
\nto avoid overlaps in administrative affairs," he said, adding the
\nregulation would be issued in May at the latest.<\/p>\n
Ryaas also said he and Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo
\nwould issue five regulations to enforce the fiscal balance law,
\nregulating, among others, negotiations on sharing profits from
\nnatural resources and on cross-subsidies from resource-rich
\nregions to less developed ones.<\/p>\n
The government will also revise the 1982 law on spatial zoning
\nand the 1974 law on regional administrations to make them
\nconsistent with the planned decentralization of much authority to
\nprovincial administrations.<\/p>\n
Ryaas said that despite the deadline of Jan. 2001, the
\nimplementation of regional autonomy would partly depend on the
\nreadiness of the regions themselves to carry it out.<\/p>\n
A full implementation of regional autonomy will be conducted
\nonly in provinces and regencies, which, if seen from the
\nperspective of their human resources and managerial skills, are
\nconsidered prepared, he remarked.<\/p>\n
He said that under developed provinces such as Aceh and Irian
\nJaya may not be ready to fully implement regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
According to Ryaas, such provinces would likely only be
\ndelegated a certain amount of authority of which they had been
\nassessed as able to handle.<\/p>\n
"To me, regional autonomy is not an efficacious medicine to
\ntreat political and economic problems in provinces because it
\ndepends much on their own preparedness to implement it," he said.<\/p>\n
He suggested local administrations immediately begin
\nrecruiting qualified personnel to fill the high demand for
\nskilled officials in the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Asked about the role of the police in such a system, Ryaas
\nremarked that they should shift their main deployment away from
\nurban centers to maintain security and order in rural and remote
\nareas.<\/p>\n
"Police should no longer be concentrated in urban areas,
\nespecially provincial capitals, because their presence will be
\nmuch needed in rural and remote areas," he said.<\/p>\n
In Saturday's seminar, many West Kalimantan figures called on
\nthe government to give special autonomy to the province in
\ncompensation for the over-exploitation of its natural resources
\nand damages to its environment in the past.<\/p>\n
Ryaas said at the most the government could give special
\ntreatment to help redevelop its forests and local culture. (rms)<\/p>",
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