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)