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)