Central government set to revise regional autonomy law

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The central government is set to revise Law No. 22/1999 on regional administration, known also as the regional autonomy law, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said, citing its ineffective implementation over the past three years.

The minister said on Wednesday that the revision would focus on articles related to the electoral system for local chief executives, relations between the central government and local administrations, territorial boundaries, and the financial administration of regions.

"We need to revise seven articles of the law that regulate the election of local chief executives as we intend to apply direct elections in the regions," Hari Sabarno said after meeting President Megawati Soekarnoputri here on Wednesday.

He said that as the country had adopted the direct presidential election system, the central government had to amend articles in the regional autonomy law that regulated the election of local administration chief executives.

Law No. 22/1999 stipulates that local administration heads are to be democratically elected by members of the local legislature.

Another article that would be revised concerns relations between the central and regional governments, which have become mired in disputes since the implementation of the law in 2000.

"We have to rearrange the relations between Jakarta and the regions as we have seen a lot of trouble over the past three years of implementation," the minister said.

Local autonomy was introduced in January 2000 during the tenure of former president Abdurrahman Wahid in a bid to ensure equitable distribution of the country's wealth and to preempt demands for independence from a number of areas.

The law was supported by Law No. 25/1999 on financial balance between the center and the regions, which provides for larger financial allocations to the regions.

Megawati has always been among the staunchest critics of the policy, saying that it given excessive power to the regions and threatened the integrity of the country.

Jakarta has received a lot of complaints, especially from foreign investors, saying that the regional autonomy policy was confusing and gave rise to too many local regulations that placed additional burdens on their companies.

Citing these problems, the President ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to revise the law despite opposition from the regions.

The Association of Indonesian Regency Administrations (Apkasi) has criticized the decision, saying that it was aimed at reintroducing excessive centralization in the country.

Hari said the revised law would be submitted to the House of Representative as soon as possible as it was slated to be implemented in 2004.

"We hope to implement the revised law by 2004. The revision will be discussed as soon as possible with the House," the minister said.