House to pass bill on regional autonomy

House to pass bill on regional autonomy

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives is expected on
Wednesday to pass a bill which will provide more autonomy to
regional administrations and legislatures from the central
government.

The new law will only take effect two years after the
presidential endorsement, a period which the government and the
House can use to review existing laws in line with the new law
and draw up operational regulations.

However, the debate remained tough on Tuesday on a closely
related bill on fiscal balance between the central and regional
governments, a legislator said.

"No common ground has been reached yet on the percentage of
state income allocated for provinces," Robbani Thoha of the
United Development Party (PPP) told The Jakarta Post.

The Armed Forces' faction's Budi Harsono, who is the deputy
chairman of the House special committee deliberating the regional
autonomy bill, said the regional autonomy bill accommodated many
public aspirations.

"It will later depend on human resources of each province to
make full use of the bill," he told the Post during a break in
the committee's final session which was held behind a closed
door.

According to Budi, the bill, containing 15 chapters and 134
articles, wields notable consequences for the present state
administration, for years marked by the central government's
domination of both decision making and financing powers.

Budi said the bill applied the principle of power
decentralization by giving wide-ranging autonomy to regencies. It
also introduces the principle of power deconcentration at the
provincial level, in which governors and deputy governors have
served as mere representatives of the central government.

Unlike present practices, the bill stipulates that candidates
for both governors and deputy governors will be selected by the
provincial legislature after consultation with the president.

On the election of a regent, the bill states a regency
legislature has the authority to choose candidates and appoint
one. The present law allows the central government's
intervention, if not the final say, in the election process.

"Each faction will have to nominate its regent and his or her
deputy candidates altogether. The same method also applies in the
gubernatorial candidacy," Budi said.

Both a regent and a governor are "political jobs", meaning
they are not part of the civil servants corps, Budi said.

The principle of decentralization regulates that a regent is
not a subordinate to a governor. A regent also will supervise
district heads.

District heads are civil servants, according to the bill, but
Budi said that unlike the present arrangement, village heads
would not be the subordinates of a district head. Instead, they
would give their accountability to the regent.

"Villages will be left alone to retain their own community
characteristics of administration, in which villagers will have
their own way of electing their heads," Budi said.

The village is the lowest government administrative level
under the bill.

As for the bill on fiscal balance -- dubbed the "soul" of
regional autonomy -- Robbani said the bill recommended that the
central government return a number of income resources
contributed by provinces to the state budget.

He said the bill was slated for endorsement on Friday. (aan)