Government plans direct elections for heads of regions by 2004
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to get more support for the revision of the regional autonomy law, the government announced on Thursday that it would include a clause on direct elections for governors, regents and mayors across the country in its proposed bill to amend the law.
The plan received support from autonomy expert Ryaas Rasyid, former state minister of administrative reforms. Nevertheless, he cautioned the government not to use the moment to overhaul the law to take back some authorities already relegated to local administrations.
Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, nevertheless, said that the proposed direct election for regional heads aimed to allow the people to directly choose their leaders and prevent possible dismissals of regional heads by local legislative councils as has been the case in several provinces in recent months.
"That way, we would minimize political maneuvers by regional councils to unseat the heads of local administrations," Hari said.
The country has seen a number of cases where a governor or regent is fired by local legislative councils, without clear reasons. And such dismissals were conducted simply by a no- confidence vote, and not through a lengthy process of legislative investigation.
The latest incident occurred in Kampar regency, Riau, where local legislative council voted on Oct. 12 to oust Kampar regent Jefri Noer and his deputy A. Zakir for poor performance.
Before that, the South Kalimantan legislative council also voted out Governor Sjachril Darham. Also, Surabaya (East Java) legislative council successfully unseated mayor Sunarto Somoprawiro, and later once again got rid of Sunarto's successor, Bambang Dwi Hartono.
The government has put all the dismissals of regional heads on hold, except for Sunarto.
Ryaas Rasyid said he supported the government's plan to amend Regional Autonomy Law No. 22/1999 if the motive was to introduce direct elections for regional heads.
Such direct elections, according to Ryaas, would not only prevent irresponsible dismissals of regional heads by local councils but also it would be a check against too much intervention by local councils into the affairs of local administration.
"I think it is a good idea to revise the law as long it aims to introduce direct elections at regional levels and not to restore centralization of power, Ryaas told The Jakarta Post.
The Regional Autonomy Law, passed during the administration of former president Abdurrahman Wahid when Ryaas was a member of the Cabinet, has given much greater authority to local administrations and local councils.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was handed the presidency after Abdurrahman was pushed out by legislators, considers the Autonomy Law a danger to the unitary state of Indonesia, and therefore she has been pushing for revisions.
The plan for revision, however, has met strong resistance from various quarters, especially regents, mayors and local legislative councils.
If the process of the revision proceeds smoothly, Hari said, the proposed direct elections for governors, regents and mayors could be implemented before the 2004 direct presidential election.
"Just wait for the revision of the regional autonomy law, we hope it will be done before the 2004 general election," Hari added.
Hari's statement on direct elections for regional heads was the first of its kind voiced by a Cabinet member.
Several non-governmental organizations such as the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) have proposed direct elections as the best solution to solve rampant conflicts between heads of local administrations and legislative councils.
Direct regional elections could also solve the problem of separatism, as this could satisfy the demand of self-governance by separatist groups such as in Aceh.