Government revising law on regional authonomy
JAKARTA (JP): The government is revising the laws on regional autonomy and central-regional fiscal balance in a move to reduce regency administrations' control over natural and financial resources.
Outgoing Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Soerjadi Soedirdja said on Friday that amendment of the laws was needed as part of the government's efforts to "support local growth without sacrificing national unity."
Soerjadi said that the laws contained rulings allowed regional administrations to become overly independent to the point that it threatened to produce national disintegration.
"But, please note that this doesn't mean that the central government does not support regional autonomy," Soerjadi told reporters after attending a ceremony in which he handed over office to his successor Hari Sabarno.
Regional autonomy has become a thorny issue in Indonesia. Critics have voiced concerns that the laws have given overly- broad authority to regency governments in generating their own revenues and managing their domestic affairs. The rapid rate of destruction of forests in places like Sumatra and Kalimantan over the time since the laws came into effect has been attributed to the new autonomy.
The demand for autonomy grew after the fall in 1998 of the New Order regime which was widely resented for ignoring development in the provinces. The strongest demands for autonomy came from provinces rich in natural resources such as Irian Jaya, Riau, and Aceh.
The laws were quickly drafted but some problems, however, began to surface. For example, investors are confused about which administration -- local or central -- has the authority to issue permits.
Several regencies have also issued their own regulations without guidance from Jakarta.
Even the then vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri criticized the autonomy concept, saying that the Laws, especially Law No. 22/1999, went against the principle of Indonesia being a unitary state as laid down in the 1945 Constitution.
The laws being revised are Laws No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy and Law No. 25/1999 on fiscal balance between the central government and local administrations.
Soerjadi said that the draft amendments were almost finished and that he expected them to be submitted soon to the House of Representatives for approval.
Meanwhile, newly-appointed Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said that the implementation of regional autonomy must not create unfair competition among the regions because not all regencies in Indonesia were equally rich in natural resources.
"The regional autonomy laws must also be in line with the principle of the unitary Republic of Indonesia," Hari said.
When asked whether the revisions might go against the spirit of democracy, Hari said: "Time will tell whether I am a democrat, or a dictator." (tso)