Govt to amend regional autonomy policy: Purnomo
Govt to amend regional autonomy policy: Purnomo
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo
Yusgiantoro hinted on Friday that the government might have to
make some changes to the new regional autonomy policy amid
"misuse" by some regional governments.
Purnomo said that many leading foreign investors, particularly
in the mining and oil and gas sector, had complained about the
poor implementation of the regional autonomy policy.
"If this (problem) continues, foreign investment will not come
to Indonesia," he told reporters.
The government launched Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy
early this year giving regional government, including regencies
and mayoralties, greater power in managing their social and
economic affairs.
Purnomo, however, did not say clearly whether the government
would revise the law or introduce a new government ruling.
Purnomo said that some local administrations had been too
aggressive in collecting revenue by imposing new taxes, which not
only burdened foreign investors, but also contravened the
contract signed with central government in Jakarta.
He said his ministry had received many complaints about this
problem from foreign investors, citing gold mining company PT
Newmont Minahasa Raya and coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima
Coal.
The country's oil and mining industry had also been badly
affected by the poor implementation of regional autonomy, experts
said.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was the country's vice
president when the autonomy policy was launched, has also voiced
her criticism several times over the policy, urging immediate
measures to evade more abuses from regencies.
Purnomo said that the Ministry of Home Affairs would be
responsible for making the changes. He did not provide details.
"There will be pluses and minuses, but we must move forward to
pass this transition period," he said.
However, he said, the government would still give regencies
the authority to issue operation licenses to mining and oil
companies.
Purnomo stressed that the government remained committed to the
implementation of regional autonomy to help accelerate local
economic development.
"We totally support regional autonomy because we want
provinces and regencies to be well developed," he said.
He added that the regional autonomy issue would be one of his
five priorities under the new Cabinet of President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
The other four programs were to meet the government target of
oil and gas exports, to complete a review of existing laws
related to energy and mineral resources, to restructure state-
owned enterprises under the ministry such as the state-owned oil
and gas company Pertamina and electricity company (PLN) and to
establish clean and good governance at the ministry.
Elsewhere, Purnomo expressed his optimism in meeting the
government oil and gas export target of Rp 100 trillion (US$10,4
billion) this year amid fears of continuing declining
international oil prices.
He said his optimism was attributed to the strong result
between January and July, which reached 60 percent of the full-
year target.
"I'm upbeat that we can meet or even surpass the target,"
Purnomo said, adding that demand for oil would remain high this
summer as well as winter.
He said the government would also support the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) plan to cut oil production
by 1 million barrels per day starting Sept.1 to prop up prices.
Crude oil price future in London were $25.98 per barrel on
Friday, compared to $25.57 the previous day.
The government has set the assumption in the State Budget that
the average price of crude oil in 2001 will be $24 per
barrel.(05)