Fishermen complain about double levies
Fishermen complain about double levies
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Confusing articles in the law on Regional Administration and the
absence of implementation guidelines have cost the country's
fishing industry dearly, as its members have been forced to pay
levies both to regional administrations and the central
government.
Chairman of the Indonesian Fisheries Federation (Gappindo),
Sutara Martadisastra, said on Wednesday in a hearing before the
House of Representatives (DPR) Commission III on fishery and
forestry affairs that the legal confusion had also dampened
domestic and foreign investors' enthusiasm for sinking funds into
the industry.
"There are double levies in several regions because both the
regional and central administrations feel that they have equal
authority to take levies from the fishing community. This is too
burdensome for us," Sutara said.
Gappindo also called on the House to amend Law No. 22/1999,
especially Articles 3 and 10, arguing that they had the potential
to spark conflict between administrations in provinces and
districts, and between districts and fishermen.
Article 3 states that a province consists of the land and sea
territories extending 12 miles from the coastline. Article 10
stipulates that the regional administration has the authority to
manage resources in its territory and is responsible for
conservation.
Article 10 also states that the regional administration has
rights over exploration, exploitation, conservation and resource
management, administration management, territorial planning, law
enforcement of either local or national regulations as well as
security and sovereignty assistance.
According to Sutara, the two equivocal articles have triggered
a number of conflicts between local administrations and fishermen
coming from other regions.
On Monday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri criticized the
tendency among local administrations to reject people coming from
other regions.
The government has plans to revise the autonomy law but the
move has met with strong resistance from local administrations
who see the planned revision as a part of efforts to recentralize
government activities.
Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno has denied such
allegations, insisting that the planned revision was designed to
harmonize relations between the central government and regional
administrations.
On Wednesday, the National Awakening Party (PKB) joined the
opposition to the government's plan to revise the autonomy law,
saying that the government should admit its inability to enforce
the existing autonomy law instead of revising it.
Earlier, Golkar, the second largest faction in the House, said
that it was still too early to revise the autonomy law.