Federal state proposal no threat: Amien

Federal state proposal no threat: Amien

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN)
Amien Rais asserted here on Monday that the controversial
proposal of a federal state would stand or fall on its own
merits, but should not be summarily branded a threat to national
unity.

"The proposal is meant to keep the country strong as a nation
state, not disintegrated," Amien said in a discussion on an
independent electoral committee at the party's office.

Amien said the public could "throw away" the term "federation"
if they disliked it, but he maintained that the nation should
reject any manifestation of "exploitation of regions by the
center".

"That's what the 'Soeharto's unitary state' has done all this
time," said Amien, long one of the country's leading opposition
figures.

The debate on federalism intensified when PAN advocated
federalism as part of its political agenda.

It is a touchy subject and has stirred some to claim that it
could it could rip apart the fabric of multiethnic Indonesia.

The Armed Forces and the ruling Golkar grouping have
reiterated their "commitment" to a unitary state but the largest
Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has openly opposed its
continuance.

In Bandung on Sunday, the chairman of NU's lawmaking body, KH
Ilyas Ruchiyat, told thousands of followers that the discourse on
federalism should stop as it was "confusing and dangerous to
integration".

Several regions have proposed that they should receive much
larger shares of their revenues. Governors have said they were
seeking justice rather than federalism.

Amien pointed out that both before and under Soeharto there
had been much "regional discontent" which bred separatist
campaigns in the regions, such as the Free Papua Movement (OPM).

In Aceh, he said locals wondered how they were only allocated
about Rp 200 billion in the state budget when their annual
contribution to the state in oil income reached about Rp 30
trillion. "It's less than 1 percent," Amien remarked.

Former Army Chief of Staff Gen. (ret) Rudini, a speaker in the
discussion on the electoral committee, said he supported the
proposal of a federal state.

The former minister of home affairs (1988-1993) said the idea
was similar to his concept of "regional autonomy". The concept
referred to autonomy that excluded the affairs of security and
defense, international relations and monetary affairs. The 1974
law on regional governments is only now being reviewed to enable
a balanced budget between the center and regions.

"Not all ministries agreed with it," Rudini revealed. "Many
feared losing lucrative projects."

Last month Nawir Messi, a senior economist at the privately
owned think tank Econit, said restructuring the imbalanced state
financing system was urgent. He said the IMF ranked East
Kalimantan and Riau as the richest regions in Southeast Asia
excluding Singapore and Brunei, but said consumption per capita
of residents of these two provinces was very low compared to the
regional average. (aan/43)