Governors demand regional autonomy law revision

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Demanding more authority in the decentralization era, governors from across the country asked President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday to revise the Regional Autonomy Law.

Speaking with the president on Wednesday, the governors said the 18-month-old law had created internal conflicts between the governors and the regents or mayors.

"The conflicts emerged because the law did not provide authority for governors to give sanction or coordinate with the regents or mayors," West Java Governor R. Nuriana said.

Nuriana, also chairman of the Association of Indonesian Provinces (APINDO), was presenting the results of a three-day governors' meeting in April to discuss the law.

He said Autonomy Law No. 22/1999 did not clearly describe the responsibilities of a governor and provided leeway for regents and mayors not to obey a governor's instructions.

"For that reason, the central government should continue with the intention of revising the current Regional Autonomy Law," Nuriana said during the dialog.

Regional autonomy has provided increased authority for the regencies and mayoralties to make decisions, mostly on economic matters for their respective areas.

However, the law does not explicitly explain the role of provincial administrations in the new system as regents and mayors are the ones in charge of the administration, effectively leaving the governors, supposedly the highest-ranking officials, toothless.

Governors have repeatedly complained about the situation, however, most people suspect they were irritated because they had lost authority in the economic sector, not because they were really concerned about the implementation of regional autonomy.

Responding to the governors' demand, President Megawati said she was fully aware of the importance of revising the law.

"However, we have to wait until the 1945 Constitution amendment is finished in the upcoming Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Only by then, we will know the foundation for the regional autonomy," the president said.

The president was referring to the Assembly's Annual Session in August, where the Assembly would finalize the ongoing amendment of the Constitution.

The President further said that she had been questioning the implementation of the regional autonomy since it came into effect at the beginning of this year after learning that there had not been sufficient education of the new laws prior to its implementation.

Megawati also said that the central government would maintain the regional autonomy implementation, but with several changes to the law.