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.