Legal experts fault autonomy bill

Legal experts fault autonomy bill

JAKARTA (JP): More criticism has been heaped on the bill on
regional administration, with legal experts and regional figures
saying that the government has not comprehended the resentment
caused by decades of centralization.

Hasrul Azwar, chairman of the North Sumatra provincial United
Development Party (PPP) chapter, said that despite several good
points on autonomy in the bill, at least two old and crucial
issues remained unresolved: appointment of regional leaders and a
centralistic administration.

"If regions are given autonomy, they should have full
authority to appoint their leaders, set their annual budget and
make their own rulings," he told The Jakarta Post in an interview
in the North Sumatra capital of Medan recently.

He criticized the bill for giving the central government the
opportunity to intervene in the election of governors, regents
and mayors.

"If the government is committed to upholding democracy and
reform, the election of regional leaders should be fully in the
hands of provincial and regency legislatures. The central
government is only authorized to give approval and support," he
said.

Constitutional law experts have voiced similar views.

The bill, submitted to the House on Feb. 15, requires that
provincial and regency legislatures consult with the central
government, or the president, on candidates for governors and
regents.

"This is clearly similar to the present mechanism, regulated
by the 1974 law on regional administration which negates autonomy
principles," Hasrul said.

Rusadi Kartaprawira, a constitutional law expert from
Bandung's Padjajaran University, said that to be consistent with
reform goals of democracy, including true autonomy, all present
governors, regencies and mayoralties should be dismissed and
replaced by elected ones.

"Most governors, regents and mayors were appointed by the
central government under an undemocratic mechanism. The forming
of new provincial and regency legislative councils, following the
next elections, should be followed by the election of new
governors, regents and mayors," he said.

Rusadi pointed out that the principle of autonomy implies that
"at each level of government there is no hierarchical
relationship".

He said that in regional autonomy, the head of the central
administration could not interfere in the election process of
regional leaders.

"The president, or the minister of home affairs, only have the
authority to accept and approve elected governors, regents and
mayors," he said.

Rusadi also criticized the "dualistic" mechanism of
administration accountability required by the bill, saying
regional leaders should be accountable to provincial and regency
legislatures, and not to the president as required in the bill.

"A regent or a mayor should only be accountable to the regency
or municipality which elects and appoints him," he said.

Rusadi added that the House should be extra cautious in
deliberating the bill and should consult with law and public
administration experts and regional leaders.

"The House should channel all aspirations in several provinces
about the balanced shares of natural resources exploitation," he
said.

Syumli Syadli, deputy chairman of the East Java provincial
legislative council, also urged the central government, through
the regional administration bill, to give full authority to
provincial and regency legislatures in electing regents, mayors
and governors.

"For the sake of consistency with democracy and political
reform, provincial and regency legislatures must be truly
empowered," Syumli said.

"The legislatures, regencies and mayoralties should have
balanced power in managing their budget and income and making
their own rulings," he said in Surabaya recently.

Hasrul said that regencies and mayoralties should gain a
greater portion of the income from their natural resources.

This is in line with the fiscal balance bill, also being
deliberated by the House, that regencies should gain a bigger
portion in their natural resources exploration, he said.

He suggested that North Sumatra should get 60 percent of the
state income from the large oil palm plantations in the province.

Meanwhile, an alliance of 17 non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) recently rejected the bill, which they said did not touch
on people's political and economic interests.

They said the bill's substance was inconsistent with the
spirit of reform: "a remake of all relations between state and
society".

The main reform principle should "respect people's sovereignty
in determining their future", given the diversity across the
archipelago, the NGOs said in a joint statement after a seminar
on regional autonomy in Yogyakarta last week.

Separatist movements have continued in Irian Jaya, Aceh and
East Timor despite the firm hand of the former government.

The NGOs were, among others, the Yogyakarta-based Institution
for Social Transformation, the Mitra Tani organization for
farmers, the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), the
Independent Riau Foundation, Ambon Baileo of Maluku and Yapsel,
based in Merauke, Irian Jaya.

The NGOs said that the bill would not be able to solve long-
standing disputes between the regions and the central government
on, among others things, land rights.

They also said the bill should be rejected because it was
deliberated by an illegitimate House whose members were elected
undemocratically. (21/43/nur/rms)