Government plans to revoke 68 problematic bylaws

Government plans to revoke 68 problematic bylaws

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said on Tuesday that at
least 68 bylaws enacted by provincial and regency administrations
should be revoked as they contradicted national laws.

The figure was far smaller than that recorded by the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), which
recently demanded that regional governments review or scrap
thousands of their rules deemed to have hampered business deals
in the regions.

"We have received a report from KADIN mentioning thousands of
controversial regional regulations, but our investigation finds
that 68 regulations are inconsistent with higher laws," Hari told
a media conference in Jakarta.

He said the revocations should include the regulation
requiring visitors to pay taxes to the local administration.

"Such a regulation is very controversial and should be
scrapped," Hari added, without mentioning the name of the
districts or provinces that had enacted the ruling.

Echoing Hari's statement, Director General of Regional
Autonomy Affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs Sudarsono said
most of the controversial regulations were related to taxation
and other sources of regional income.

Hari said that, as home affairs minister, he had the right to
revoke such controversial regulations.

"But I prefer to promote discussion in order to deal with this
issue. But if they (governors, regents or mayors) refuse to do
so, I will execute my authority," he warned.

The issue of controversial regulations surfaced following the
implementation of the regional autonomy law on Jan. 1, 2001,
which requires regional administrations to independently create
and manage their own sources of income.

The move has caused problems for certain regions, particularly
poor provinces or regencies.

The government is revising the laws on regional autonomy and
the central-regional fiscal balance in a move to reduce the
control of regency administrations over natural and financial
resources.