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."