Government slams autonomy critics

JAKARTA (JP): Home Affairs Minister Surjadi Soedirdja struck back at the mounting criticism over the newly-implemented regional autonomy on Wednesday, saying that the issue had been "overly politicized".

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid at Merdeka Palace, Surjadi said that certain people in Jakarta were trying to politicize the issue by creating an impression that the regions were far from ready to implement regional autonomy.

"Pessimistic comments they've made on regional autonomy have done nothing but create uneasiness," Surjadi, whose ministry is largely responsible for implementing regional autonomy, told reporters.

"Despite all the setbacks, the regions are actually ready to implement regional autonomy, but people here are trying to politicize the issue," he added.

The statement came only one day after State Minister for Administrative Reforms Ryaas Rasyid tendered his resignation from the Cabinet citing "an irreconcilable disagreement" with the President over the implementation of regional autonomy.

Ryaas, the mastermind behind regional autonomy, said that there had been "differences of opinion" between him and Abdurrahman over the formation of a special agency on regional autonomy.

Abdurrahman rejected Ryaas' idea of establishing a powerful autonomy supervisory board, instead opting for a lower-level directorate-general under the home affairs ministry.

When asked whether Ryaas' resignation was mentioned during his talks with the President, Surjadi said, "The issue was not mentioned because it has nothing to do with me".

Surjadi, who is a former Jakarta governor, also refused to comment when asked to explain principal differences of opinion between his and Ryaas's ministries, on how to implement regional autonomy.

"You should not address that question to me but to Ryaas," Surjadi said.

Critics have claimed that only regions rich in natural resources would be ready for regional autonomy, which was originally designed to defuse the threat of disintegration, which ironically coincides with the blossoming democracy.

People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais has joined the chorus of skeptics, saying regional autonomy, which would involve the removal of 2.6 million state employees, would only create tension between the central and local governments.

Unready

In Bandung, the capital of West Java, chief of the Regional Autonomy Section, Suherwan, said all 22 regencies and mayoralties in the province are not yet ready to undertake comprehensive decentralization.

"When they (the regencies) first heard about the opportunity to manage their own financial budgets, they were all saying that "we're ready".

"But now it turns out that they are not ready at all," Suherwan said on Tuesday.

There are two important things which the regions have failed to cope with, namely education and infrastructure development, he said.

In the field of education, more than half of the regencies here have not been able to manage the education requirements for kindergarten through to higher education, Suherwan said.

While in the infrastructure sector, the regencies do not have enough manpower or adequate personnel to design and build the required facilities.

"Up until now construction work and existing building structures have been handled by the central government or provinces. They just simply do not know what to do," he said.

Among the planned revenue streams in West Java in the wake of regional autonomy are levies for underground water and the use of water from Jatiluhur dam.

In Central Java, Chief of Cilacap Legislative Council Frans Lukman said that his region is not ready to implement regional autonomy since many of the regulations have not yet been made public to the officials.

"We are not ready at all. We admit to this situation as many of the officials have a corrupt mentality and are prone to acting superior. Many of the regional regulations here also must be revised," Frans said.

Locals, however, were anxious to implement regional autonomy and are protesting the officials' sluggish movement, he said.

The local budget for Cilacap is around Rp 200 billion per year. Most of those funds have come from the central government, while only around 10 percent will be provided by the region, he explained.

"We fear that the regional revenue won't ever cover the local budget. We are so dependent on the central government," Frans added.

Antara reported that a similar lack of preparedness was evident in several regencies in East Java, Bali and Kalimantan as well as the disputed provinces of Maluku, Aceh and Irian Jaya. (25/27/45/edt/byg)