Govt urged to settle island dispute

JAKARTA: The city administration and the Banten provincial administration agreed on Monday to allow the central government to resolve their dispute over ownership of the Thousand Islands regency.

"The ownership problem arose because each administration uses different law to justify their claim of ownership," Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall.

"We use the 1999 Law No. 34 on Jakarta autonomy as our legal basis, while the Banten provincial administration uses the 1999 Law No. 22 on regional autonomy," he said.

Sutiyoso was accompanied by Banten Vice Governor Atut Chosiyah, who was meeting with the Jakarta governor to discuss the issue.

Atut said her administration looked forward to a revenue boost if the Thousand Islands regency, home to numerous tourist resorts, was put under Banten's control.

"It is the revenue that is more important. It would be acceptable if the central government put (the regency) under Jakarta's jurisdiction as long as Jakarta shared the revenue with us," she said. -- JP