Government asked to be fairer in subventions to regencies
Government asked to be fairer in subventions to regencies
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
East Java's regents have called on the central government to be
more fair in the provision and distribution of general allocation
funds (DAU) to regencies in the 2002 fiscal year.
The regents, who attended a seminar on general allocation
funds in Surabaya on Wednesday, suggested that the government
consult with regents to determine the amount of funds to be
allocated to all regions in East Java for the 2002 fiscal year.
In line with the implementation of regional autonomy, the
central government has allocated funds to regions to finance
their administrations, including civil servants' wages and
development programs.
Nganjuk Regent Soetrisno said he was disappointed with the
central government, which had not been fair in distributing the
funds to regencies throughout the province this fiscal year.
He said that in 2001, Nganjuk received a total of Rp 218.6
billion, while Trenggalek, with a smaller population than
Nganjuk, received Rp 212 billion.
"Of the Rp 218.6 billion, Rp 217.3 billion is used to pay more
than 12,300 civil servants in the regency and, with only Rp 1.63
billion remaining, we had to borrow Rp 4.8 billion from the
provincial government to carry out the development program.
He suggested that Nganjuk, with a population of 1.1 million,
should receive a significantly higher allocation than Trenggalek,
which has a population of 600,000.
Tuban Regent Henny Relawati said that the central government
should not implement new policies half way through the fiscal
year that could affect regional administrations.
As an example, she noted that regencies experienced financial
difficulties when faced with providing back-pay for civil
servants, especially teachers, after the central government
decided in August to raise the teachers' wages by around 30
percent, back-dated to April.
Machfud Sidik, director general for fiscal balance at the
Ministry of Home Affairs, said the central government had
established a criteria for distributing the general allocation
funds.
"The amount of DAU regencies will receive depends on their
fiscal capacity, resource potential, population, territory size,
political and social condition," he said in the seminar.
He asserted that the central government would be fairer in
distributing the general allocation funds to avoid any further
dissatisfaction among regional administrations.
In its 2002 state budget, the government has raised the
general allocation fund to Rp 69.1 trillion from Rp 60.5 trillion
this year.
Machfud said the government was also likely to allocate
special funds to accelerate the implementation of prioritized
programs.
"This fiscal year, the special funds have been allocated to
help speed up reforestation programs in almost all provinces but,
in the next fiscal year, the central government will allocate
special funds to finance elementary education and development
programs," he said.
Soekarwo, chief of the provincial government revenue office,
regretted that the central government had not consulted with
regencies to determine their financial needs to cover
administration and development program expenses.
"The central government has enlisted experts from some
universities to assist in designing the present DAU concept,
which does not match with the real condition in regions because
they all differ from one another," he said.
Faried Alfauzi, a legislator from the East Java provincial
legislative council, said the central government must be
transparent in handling the general allocation funds, which are a
sensitive issue among regions.
"The government should not only unveil its administrative
accountability to the People's Consultative Assembly, but also
its programs, performance, and compliance with its programs and
the law, to the general public. So far, neither the current nor
previous governments have never announced development programs
and their balance sheets to the public," he said.