Govt chided as 'incompetent' in autonomy implementation

Govt chided as 'incompetent' in autonomy implementation

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The central government has been accused of "incompetence and
insincerity" in its attempts to share power with the regions,
critics say.

Autonomy law expert Ryaas Rasyid said autonomy implementation
had been hampered by thousands of incompatible bylaws and
presidential decrees.

"There are hundreds or thousands of problematic regional
regulations and at least 197 presidential decrees, which should
immediately be revoked but the central government refuses to do
so," Ryaas said Thursday.

The controversial presidential decrees include areas relating
to mines, education, health services, forestry, investment, trade
and industry.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno suggested last January
that at least 68 bylaws enacted by provincial and regency
administrations be revoked as they contradicted national laws.

Earlier the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(KADIN) demanded that thousands of bylaws be scrapped or reviewed
for allegedly hindering business in the regions.

Ryass was speaking at a discussion on a book titled
Decentralization, Democratization and Accountability of Regional
Administrations, which comprises a number of opinions written by
leading scholars.

Ryass, who contributed an article to the publication, said the
central government had issued several recent rulings inconsistent
with Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy and Law No. 25/1999 on
fiscal balance between the central and regional governments.

Ryaas cited as an example a presidential decree on land
management issued in 2000 during former president Abdurrahman
Wahid's tenure, and a government regulation on forestry enacted
by the current government.

He attributed the central government's incompetence on its
refusal to enact specific guidelines on the autonomy law, which
had sparked widespread confusion.

"The government's refusal to enact supporting regulations is
part of its incompetence. We have reminded them to do so, but
they say it is not necessary," said Ryaas, who once led a
political reform team under former president B.J. Habibie.

Ryaas criticized the central government for failing to take
responsibility to make decentralization a success, saying
autonomy continued "to develop anti-autonomy rhetoric" among
members of the public.

Indra J. Piliang, a researcher with the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI), was also critical of the central government's
incompetence in dealing with autonomy implementation.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's recent statement that
Indonesian workers deported from Malaysia were the responsibility
of regional administrations showed just how badly the government
understood its own laws, he said.

Indra told the discussion that the central government should
have been aware the issue of deported workers was its
responsibility in connection with bilateral ties between Jakarta
and Kuala Lumpur.

Ryaas, who recently launched the Unity, Democracy and
Nationhood Party (PPDK), warned against government moves to
create new regencies and provinces as it could trigger new
political problems.

"With the regional expansions, regencies with an insufficient
population may not have a single representative in legislative
bodies," he said.