Aceh leaders call state revenue allocation unfair

Aceh leaders call state revenue allocation unfair

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh met House of Representatives Speaker
Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien
Rais on Wednesday to lodge a complaint against what he called the
unfair allocation of state revenue from the exploration of
natural resources in the oil-rich province.

After separate meetings with Akbar and Amien, the Governor,
accompanied by a number of councillors from the provincial
legislative council, said he was here to seek political support
from the House and the Assembly for the province to gain a
greater portion of the revenue than the government now that the
province had special autonomy.

Mursyid Minorsa, deputy chairman of the Aceh provincial
legislature, said Aceh could not accept the Rp 1.8 trillion
allocated by the central government because according to
calculations based on Law No 18/2001 on special autonomy, the
province should receive Rp 2.9 trillion for the 2002 fiscal year.

"Most Acehnese people know that the province's income from
natural resources this fiscal year is Rp 2.9 trillion. And so
far, both the finance ministry and state oil company Pertamina
have yet to give clarification about why the province earned
less," he said.

According to the law, Aceh receives 80 percent from the
general mining sector, 15 percent from oil and 30 percent from
gas.

"So far, the government has not disclosed the total revenue
from the mining sector," he said.

House Speaker Akbar acknowledged that the central
administration had promised to allocate Rp 2.9 trillion to the
Aceh administration and said he did not understand why the
province had received less.

The smaller amount from the fiscal balance has proved to be a
problem for the provincial administration because it figured the
Rp 2.9 trillion into its 2002 budget.

According to Akbar, the discrepancy had created conflicting
opinions between the central administration and the Acehnese.

Ahmad Farhan Hamid, an Acehnese legislator of the National
Mandate Party, confirmed that the visit was an effort to get
political support from the legislative body to pressure the
central government into complying with the law.

"Even in the early implementation of special autonomy, the
government has violated the law, indicating an absence of
commitment to the law, which it made," he said.