Government to issue regulation on autonomy soon

By Ridwan M. Sijabat

JAKARTA (JP): The government is set to issue this week a much awaited regulation which will delineate authority in regional autonomy in 2001.

But as the draft regulation and senior officials at the Office of the State Ministry of Regional Autonomy indicate, the regional autonomy plan is not designed as a power-sharing scheme but is aimed more at promoting democracy and the equitable distribution of wealth.

Andi A. Mallarangeng, an assistant to the state minister of regional autonomy, told The Jakarta Post here that the final draft of the regulation had been completed and was set to be signed by President Abdurrahman Wahid this week.

He said the regulation describes in detail fields of authority that will remain with the central government and provinces as administrative territories.

Regencies and mayoralties will run their administrations and develop their own potentials autonomously based on the delineations provided under the authority of the province and based on the macro national level policies set by the central government.

The current draft regulation specifies the division of authority between the central government and provinces in 23 fields -- agriculture, maritime, mining and energy, forestry and plantations, industry and trade, cooperatives, investment, tourism, labor, health, education and culture, social affairs, spatial planning, land, residential settlements, public works, communications/transportation, environment, public administration, development of regional autonomy, fiscal balance, information and laws.

On the macro level, the central government will have authority in setting out policies on foreign affairs, defense and security, monetary and fiscal affairs, the legal system and religious affairs.

The regulation also stipulates that the central government can issue regulations on the standards of public services, set criteria on spatial planning, conditions for accreditation of educational institutions and certification of professional experts, development policies and the exploitation and protection of natural resources.

"The law gives autonomous regions' authority to run certain fields such as public works, health, education and culture, agriculture, transportation, industry and trade, investment and environment while the (central) government has authority in making basic policies in these fields," Mallarangeng said.

As an example he cited the fiscal balance field, in which the government can make guidelines on the reallocation of portions of a rich areas' income to poorer areas in the province.

"This is to avoid social jealousy among them," he said, adding that the government would soon also issue technical guidelines on how regencies and mayoralties should run their autonomous administrations in those fields.

Mallarangeng defended the apparent need for central government "intervention" through the establishment of basic policies for the sake of maintaining the unitary state and national unity.

He argued that the unitary state would come under threat if regions had no common or basic policies to guide them in running their administrations.

"It would also be very difficult for a dissident regency to break away from the unitary state because it would be under the close supervision of its provincial administration," he said.

Provincial administrations will be charged with handling all cross-regency affairs and fields that regions and mayoralties cannot yet manage.

Democracy

Mallarangeng, an expert on public administration, pointed out that the aim of decentralizing authority to regencies and mayoralties was not to share power but mainly to develop democracy, empower the people and to ensure equal distribution of wealth.

"We should learn from the nation's past bad experiences where the people suffered economic hardship, despite the booming economy ... The robust economic growth in the past was enjoyed only by a certain small group of corrupt political elite," he said.

"Regional autonomy is designed to empower local people, improve their welfare and create a conducive climate for democracy," he said.

Mallarangeng noted that the regional autonomy law and the fiscal balance law would also help strengthen the position of councils at the provincial and regency or mayoralty levels.

"With the fiscal balance law, regions will have better bargaining power to negotiate with the government because of their bigger portion in the share of their own natural resources," he said.

Mallarangeng pointed out that resource-rich provinces such as Aceh, Irian Jaya, Riau and East Kalimantan could get between 50 percent to 75 percent, instead of the 1 percent they currently get, from the margin of profit of natural resource exploration in their respective areas.

While full implementation of regional autonomy is not expected until next year, some aspects of it have already been implemented, particularly in the election of governors and regents.

"The election of governors, regents and mayors has been fully conducted by local councils. The government only officiates the election process," he said.

However, Mallarangeng regretted the rising issue of money politics in various gubernatorial and regency elections in numerous provinces recently, saying such issues only hamper democracy.

"The most important thing is that the legislative councils listen to their people's aspirations," he said.