Kutai engaged in superfluous projects

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many poor regions have turned rich overnight, thanks to the Law on regional autonomy, which has a split revenue mechanism.

Regional autonomy has also created nouveau rich "rulers", who are very much like the nobles and kings of old, when kingdoms used to thrive throughout the land.

Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan, which is also home to the old Islamic Kutai sultanate, is among those rags-to- riches regions now enjoying a huge share of revenue from its natural resources.

Kutai's natural resources are distributed almost evenly within its 18 subdistricts. Scores of foreign and national major companies run offices in the regency, such as Vico, Unocal, French Total Indonesie and Salim in oil and gas, to name but a few. In coal mining alone, some of the big players are PT Tarnito Harum, PT Tambang Batubara and PT Kideco Jaya Agung.

The forests, which make up some 80 percent of its total area of 27,263.10 square kilometers, are managed by 28 forest concessionaires. In addition, 185 forest production concessionaires also benefit from Kutai's forests.

In the 2001 regional budget, the regency initially booked a revenue of Rp 887.15 billion, up 95 percent from the previous year of Rp 454.18 billion. However, when the split revenue mechanism in natural resources earnings between regions and the central government was introduced, Kutai's revenue jumped to a whopping Rp 1.5 trillion.

This year, the regency administration's budget was set at Rp 1.66 trillion, with some Rp 1.2 trillion of revenue derived from natural resources earnings.

The amount is certainly a huge one for a regency with a population of 434,229. Kutai's budget is nearly the same as Sinar Mas's total debts.

With this kind of money, the question that pops into mind is: What does the regency do with all of it?

The answer is it embarks in bombastic development projects.

Two years ago, the regency administration introduced a New Order-like grand development strategy called Gerbang Dayaku, which stands for The Movement of Developing and Empowering Kutai. Basically, it is a series of development programs focused on infrastructure and human resources development within its villages.

"We change our development paradigm from sectoral to territorial. Welfare in villages has to be improved," Regent H.R. Syaukani told The Jakarta Post.

The regency means business. It allocates Rp 2 billion a year to each of the 197 villages to build infrastructures, improve welfare, agriculture and education.

Brushing aside rumors that the villages have never actually received any funds, Syaukani said that the money was channeled through various schemes. For instance, to improve welfare, funds were disbursed through a credit scheme that allows villagers to borrow up to Rp 500 million without any collateral or interest, he said.

Education is another sector that enjoys a boost. Students from elementary school to high school do not have to pay school fees although the schools are allowed to collect donations from them.

Opening up isolated areas by building roads and bridges is another target. One of the projects is the grand 550-kilometer- long bridge in Kota Bangun to connect Kutai's capital Tenggarong with five of the most isolated subdistricts of Tabang, Kembang Janggut, Kahalang, Muara Muntai and Muara Wis.

Village roads are also being improved and paved.

"No more muddy roads on rainy days," Syaukani said.

Like a new rich man, the regency also has a philanthropic program under which some 50,000 widows, disabled people and elderly citizens receive assistance of Rp 100,000 per month while widows of veterans get Rp 250,000.

While many of the programs seem to have gone over well, there are many development projects that have raised people's eyebrows.

Entering Tenggarong, the capital city of Kutai Kartanegara, which is only 36 kilometers from the capital of East Kalimantan, Samarinda, one can see the city dressed up to suit its new status as a rich regent.

The most striking feature is the bridge connecting Tenggarong and Samarinda over the Mahakam river. Designed to resemble the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the bridge is named Kutai Kartanegara Bridge. Stretching 570 kilometers long, it cost at least Rp 90 billion to build.

Right across Tenggarong, on the banks of the Mahakam river, another multi-billion rupiah project is under way, the Kumala Island family resort.

While refusing to reveal the amount spent on this project, Syaukani boasted that the island would become the regency's tourism landmark.

"We want to start selling Kutai Kartanegara as a tourist destination," he said.

"Indonesia is not only Bali and Java, but also Kutai Kartanegara," he said.

The 76-hectare-wide island plans to have a tower, cable cars, cottages and a cultural display. A statue of Lembusuana -- a mythical creature symbolizing the regency -- almost as big as Singapore's Merlion statue, stands tall on the island overlooking the busy Mahakam river.

Meanwhile, the future amusement park is surrounded by slums lining the river banks.

Development in the tourist sector includes reviving the old Islamic Kutai Sultanate with its annual Erau fiesta. The re- anointed Kutai Sultan, Aji Pangeran Prabu Sultan Salehuddin II, receives an annual subsidy amounting to Rp 3 billion to cover his daily household expenditures.

The re-anointment of royalty is reminiscent of the Dutch colonial era, when sultans and kings were anointed by the Dutch colonial administration as puppets through whom they could have access to the regions.

"It's sort of our way of saying thanks to the Sultan's family, which is part of Kutai's long history," Syaukani said.