Kutai Kartanegara: Miracle regency or mismanaged mess?

Thu, 02 Jun 2005

A'an Suryana and Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Kutai Kartanegara

A cable car in the middle of jungle-clad Kalimantan? Everybody may not believe it, unless they see it themselves.

But, those who have never been in Tenggarong, the capital of Kutai Kartanegara regency, will find that the cable car is no longer a luxury.

The cable car, located in Kumala Tourist Island near Tenggarong city downtown, was inaugurated on Sept. 26, 2002 by then flamboyant regent Syaukani H.R. The Doppelmyrd cable car was brought to Tenggarong from Austria, costing the energy rich regency billions of rupiah.

Through the 1,300-meter long cable car, tourists can watch over the whole Kumala Island, some 27 kilometers away from Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan. At night, the tourists could also see the flickering lamplights in Tenggarong city.

The grandiose cable car project is one of several monumental projects initiated by Syaukani, who is seeking reelection this year. Other major projects, which according to Syaukani were built to raise the pride of Kutai Kartanegara, are a planetarium, a Sky Tower and giant Lembu Swana sculpture. According to local myth, Lembu Swana is a cow-like animal that served as the carriage of Kutai King Aji Batara Agung Dewa Sakti.

These projects are the fruits of fast-paced development which began in 2001, when regional autonomy was introduced nationwide.

The autonomy then enabled regional governments to manage their own resources and enjoyed more revenues than ever. For a natural resource-rich regency like Kutai Kartanegara, autonomy provided it with windfall profits from mining, oil and gas and timber companies.

Under Syaukani, the local government benefited from the newly found wealth to spur development projects through the Kutai Empowerment Development Movement (Gerakan Pengembangan Pemberdayaan Kutai or Gerbang Dayaku).

"The movement aims to create a prosperous and self-reliant society," Syaukani said in his book titled "Kutai Kartanegara's Strategy and Potentials in Autonomy and Globalization Era."

Kutai embarked on massive construction project of infrastructure projects to accelerate development in the regency, including the construction of a bridge that links Tenggarong city and Samarinda city.

The local government also introduced a Billion Village Movement, through which the regental budget allocated Rp 1 billion (US$106,400) -- was raised to Rp 2 billion in 2002 and subsequent years -- to each subdistrict to enable them to build infrastructure and enhance human resources. The government also provided loans with no interest to every household amounting to Rp 5 million to help them start small businesses.

The most notable result of the development is free education from elementary to senior high school for all. A large number of students have received scholarships from to enable them complete their studies.

There is no other regencies or provinces in the country that match Kutai Kartanegara in their awareness of education.

The speedy development in the regency has amazed Admiral (ret) Soedomo, former Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs and ally of former President Soeharto. When visiting Kutai Kartanegara a few years ago, he told Syaukani that "Kutai Kartanegara looks like a country of 1001 nights", referring to the Baghdad kingdom in Middle East tale.

But, the facelift development is not free from criticism. Many say the local government has not been prudent in term of development funding. It sets priorities, but in many cases, they do not materialize and many of the projects are a waste of money.

"The government says that it will prioritize education sector, but in fact, education in the regency still lags behind other regencies in East Kalimantan. This year, despite its rich, Kutai Kartanegara ranks ninth in term of education quality out of 13 regencies in the province," said Zulkarnain, the deputy dean of the School of Social and Political Sciences at state-run Kutai Kartanegara University.

Corruption is believed to be rampant and many projects were granted to certain companies without tender.

The Rp 2 billion village movement has not run well, as considerable part of the funds have not been properly distributed.

"There has been a question whether these funds have really reached all households in Kutai Kartanegara," said Zulkarnain.

Some people agree to this account, including Sri, who owns a small car wash shop.

"I heard the regency provide us loans without interest, which amounted to between Rp 3 million and Rp 5 million, but I never receive this loan. The project, if existed, is good, but I suspect there are irregularities in its implementation. Only those who are close to the power might get the loan," said Sri, a Javanese migrant who has been living in the regency for 14 years.

There are shortcomings impeding the development projects, as evident in the 2003 official data which revealed that almost 20 percent (or 69,109) of the regency population of 388,466 lived in poverty.

"Therefore, it does not matter who will be elected in the regental election. The important thing is the elected regent has to be able to bring prosperity to the regency and establish justice for all," said Zulkarnain.

Facts about Kutai Kartanegara

Area: 28,972,980 square meters
Population (2005): 494,614
Budget 2004: Rp 3 trillion (East Kalimantan provincial budget 2004: Rp 2.9 trillion)
Budget 2005 : Rp 2.7 trillion (East Kalimantan prov. Budget 2005 : Rp 2.65 trillion)
Multinational oil, gas and mining companies operating in the regency: Vico, Total Indonesia, Exspan, Unocal and Banpu (a Thailand coal company)

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