Autonomy to phase out ministries

Autonomy to phase out ministries

JAKARTA (JP): The government's plan to allocate greater
autonomy to the provinces would eventually result in the phasing
out of several ministries, State Minister of Regional Autonomy
designate Ryaas Rasyid said here on Thursday.

Ryaas said the full implementation of regional autonomy,
expected to be achieved within the next two years, would mean
that provinces would have greater control over their natural
resources and fiscal policies.

He singled out the Ministries of Forestry, Investment and
Mining as potential areas where provincial administrations would
assume almost full authority, thereby making the need of such
departments on a national level redundant.

The government intends to decentralize its power and widen the
scope of local authority by giving greater autonomy to the
provinces by 2001.

The House of Representatives recently passed two laws --
Regional Autonomy Law No. 22/1999 and The Intergovernmental
Fiscal Balance Law No. 25/1999 -- which define the greater role
and authority of provincial administrations.

Contrary to past practices, provincial administrations will
now only be required to deposit 20 percent of their annual income
from natural resources to the central government, not including
oil and gas.

Ryaas, who was previously director general of public
administration and regional autonomy at the Home Ministry,
contended that once regional autonomy was fully implemented many
ministries which based much of their work on administrating those
areas would no longer be needed.

Ryaas and his department plan to begin reallocating personnel
from applicable central government ministries and institutions to
regional offices in July.

This will be preceded in the first half of 2000 with regional
administrations formally establishing the necessary institutions
so a transfer of responsibility can be gradually applied.

"What is the point of having these ministries which have no
authority?", he told reporters present at the launching of the
book Indonesian Di Ambang Perpecahan? (Indonesia on the Verge of
Disintegration?) written by a team from the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI) headed by Syamsuddin Haris.

According to Ryaas, his own State Ministry would take over
about half of the Home Ministry's responsibilities.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs will be accountable for the
national democratization process, while my office will attend to
regional administration problems," he explained.

Given the inevitable slimming down of central government as a
consequence of regional autonomy, Ryaas publicly questioned
President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision to establish such a large
Cabinet.

"I will seek clarification on whether the president is truly
committed to implementing regional autonomy ... We accept the
large Cabinet being formed now, only with the assumption that it
will be reduced in line with the transfer of power to the
regions," he remarked.

Speaking on the importance of expanding regional autonomy,
Ryaas underlined that it was both critical and necessary in the
near future to dissuade tendencies to disintegrate.

"If we fail to implement this Indonesia will be ruined", he
said, citing the grassroots separatist movements in Aceh and
Irian Jaya which grew out of perceived economic and political
injustices committed by the central government.

"The face of autonomy will be different in each region, and it
will be granted gradually and systematically when each region is
ready for it", he added.

Ryaas further expressed confidence that the regional
administrations would be ready to take on such responsibilities
in their respective provinces, noting that they would also be
assisted by experienced officials transferred from ministries in
the central government. (02)