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