Forest concessions

Forest concessions

From Neraca

In my opinion, the proposal that forest concessions which have expired should be shifted to a public corporation, a concept introduced by the minister of forestry and plantations during the national leadership meeting of the forestry and plantation service offices throughout Indonesia, will face obstacles in the regions. Constraints will arise because provinces hope to manage by themselves their forests. Therefore, although the minister's proposal stipulates that the profits earned by the public corporation will be enjoyed by the central government (30 percent), the province concerned (30 percent), the regency concerned (30 percent) and the community around the forest area (10 percent), the regions will not be interested in accepting this proposal.

A region can even reverse the content of the proposal so that only 10 percent of the profit will go to the coffers of the central government, while the remaining 90 percent will be equally distributed among the province, the regency and the local community. Experience has shown that with the various public corporations that have already been established, the profits from these companies have never been transparently reported to the public, and therefore local communities never quite enjoyed the benefits of these public corporations. It is for this reason that local communities in the regions are against concepts smacking of centralism.

In fact, every province is now ready to set up its own state forestry enterprise, according to the rights and authorities they are entitled to pursuant to Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy and Law No. 25/1999 on financial equality between the central government and the regions.

In this context, it is only rational that the central government stop tinkering with the rights the regions are entitled to, because the regions themselves have show their consent for the existence of a unitary state. Otherwise, there will be a reaction in the regions which will disrupt national stability, because such reactions are usually manifested as social turmoil and regional demands. The regions may again put forward the idea of a federal state, or even their independence.

Therefore, the central government must carefully weigh this matter according to the present spirit of reform. It must willingly and magnanimously delegate the management of forestry and plantation affairs to the regions.

H. SOFYAN SIAMBATON

Jakarta