Five years of autonomy, Pucukan still poor

Five years of autonomy, Pucukan still poor

By Ainur R. Sophiaan

SIDOARJO, East Java (JP): Pucukan, a hamlet inhabited by 41
families, is located on the eastern coast of Sidoarjo regency and
squeezed in by thousands of hectares of shrimp ponds, which are
the hamlet's livelihood.

Pucukan, which is part of Gebang village in Sidoarjo City,
cannot be accessed by land transportation. Instead, a 1.5-hour
ride on a motorboat along the Karang Gayam River, which runs
through the city, will bring visitors there.

The Jakarta Post and Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendrarso witnessed
how Pulungan residents live five years after Sidoarjo was chosen
as one of 26 regencies to take part in a pilot project on
regional autonomy.

No electricity here. Only a diesel power generator that gives
power and illumination between 5 a.m. and 12 p.m. daily. The only
source of clean water is an artesian well of 70 meters depth.
Most of the Pulungan inhabitants live in houses made of bamboo
mats, with dirt floor.

The residents are workers in the shrimp ponds, which are owned
by people in Sidoarjo and Surabaya. Almost none of them graduated
from elementary school.

The hamlet does have one elementary school, in severe
disrepair and with only three classrooms, so children have to
take turn studying.

"The school was a present seven years ago from Golkar when it
won elections here," said a resident, Zainuri. "It's started to
crumble now. Besides, our place is regularly flooded every year
during either monsoons or rising sea tides."

"Many of our children who finish junior high school (in the
city) refuse to come home. They choose to live in the city," he
said.

The hardships faced by Pucukan residents are by no means
unique, being experienced in most settlements along the eastern
coast of Sidoarjo, which spans an area of 634,385 square
kilometers. An irony for a regency that was the site of the
government's experiment in regional autonomy.

"How could a regional autonomy project, which was developed
from the concept of decentralization, proceed effectively during
such a centralized administration?" Win asked, referring to the
New Order regime of Soeharto.

Merit system

In April 1995, Soeharto launched a trial run of greater
regional autonomy, which gave 26 selected regencies a greater say
in the running of their affairs. Under the program, most of the
matters previously handled by the central government were handed
over to authorities in the 26 regencies.

The areas of responsibility handed over to the regencies
included health, fisheries, education and culture, public works,
animal husbandry, home industries, public housing, land
transportation and tourism.

The concept, however, failed to become a reality.

"It's been a no go. Many affairs were really handed over to
us, but we have not been given the authority to handle them. How
could we make decisions?" Hendrarso asked. "They gave us these
problems but no authority, so obviously we could do nothing."

Many agencies were relegated to the regency, but the authority
to run the financial affairs was not handed over. The cold-
storage industry in Sidoarjo, for example, earns Rp 1 billion
annually, but 100 percent of this still has to be sent to the
provincial administration.

"We get nothing in return (for the management of the
industry). Now we are demanding 50 percent of it," he said.

Human resources development is another example. During the
trial run of the autonomy project, Sidoarjo regency had to accept
that with the establishment of new local agencies to replace the
regional offices of ministries, it also had to accommodate
thousands of civil servants.

Moentiono, the spokesman of the Sidoarjo regency
administration, said his region currently had a surplus of
employees. The regency initially had 1,500 employees, but with
the autonomy it had to accept 8,500 new civil servants
transferred from the provincial administration. This is in
addition to 4,000 other civil servants, mostly teachers and
paramedics, who were already posted there by the central
government.

Even in the regent office the excessive number of employees is
evident. The public relations unit has 28 employees; initially it
had only 15. The administration affairs unit now has 50
employees, or double the previous number. These are all in
addition to 1,050 part-time workers, and another 1,000 posted
from the central agencies of family planning and land affairs,
and former employees of the dissolved information ministry.

Commenting on the "influx" of civil servants from the
central/provincial administrations, Hendrarso promised to be firm
and take an independent stance when regional autonomy comes into
effect in January 2001.

"For the time being, we are not going to accept any more civil
servants (from the central/provincial-level offices)," he said.
"If we have to recruit new people, we will do it professionally
based on a merit system."

"We will not accept this new burden from the central
government, no matter what," he said, referring to Law No.
43/2000 on the civil service. He added that the restructuring of
local institutions was almost complete, and that the only space
left was for the reorganization of the civil servants transferred
from the central government into the increasingly limited posts
and offices.

Nothing in return

One of the keys to autonomy is the management of regional
resources, but this is where the controversy centers. Sidoarjo
regency has a population of 1,548,820 with genuine regional
income of Rp 40.5 billion (1999/2000 figures), coming second in
East Java only to Surabaya.

In 1999, Sidoarjo submitted Rp 1.5 trillion from value added
tax and income tax, and Rp 40 billion from motorized vehicle tax.
From the land and building tax, the regency received 64 percent
of revenue.

"To support the autonomy project, we will need at least Rp 400
billion per year to operate our offices and independent
development projects," Hendrarso said. Where will the money come
from if not from revenue sharing?

Hendrarso plans to increase regional revenue by intensifying
and seeking fresh sources. Not that he will have an easy job
after years of getting nothing in return for the money that went
to the central/provincial administrations.

Sidoarjo regency, for instance, has not received anything from
the management of taxes and retribution at Juanda Airport despite
the facility being in its area.

Even parking at the airport is managed by the Navy, which
charges Rp 1,500 per car. This is despite the regency regulation
that parking fees are Rp 500.

"We never know how much money is being generated from the
parking every year," Hendrarso said.

This is why Sidoarjo regency has yet to decide its income
target, and how to meet it when autonomy comes into effect.
Property promises lucre, as its business is again booming and
land prices soaring.

Another sector that might be mined is industry. The total
amount of domestic investment reached Rp 5.8 trillion in 2000,
while foreign investment was Rp 7.02 trillion. Other industries
for the same period totaled Rp 535.7 billion.

Hendrarso said his office was preparing to develop a new
industrial estate covering up to 300 hectares.

"We are struggling to build a one-stop service center for
investors. This is the only opportunity for Sidoarjo. I am hoping
the new arrangement of fiscal balance between regional
governments and the central government will really be respected,"
he said. "If so, Pucukan will not suffer like this."