Legislator pushes for Kepulauan Meranti's inclusion in Archipelagic Regions Bill

A member of the House of Representatives’ (DPR RI) Special Committee for the Archipelagic Regions Bill, Hendry Munief, is pushing for a review of the list of regions in the draft legislation so that Kepulauan Meranti Regency in Riau Province can be included as an archipelagic region and receive affirmative development support from the central government. Hendry stated that Kepulauan Meranti is not listed among the archipelagic regions currently under discussion by the DPR, even though this status affects the opportunity to obtain special budget allocations for accelerated development. “We learned from the special committee’s discussions that Kepulauan Meranti Regency is not included in the 30 regencies categorised as archipelagic regions. We certainly deeply regret this. In fact, Kepulauan Meranti currently really needs special attention from the central government,” Hendry said in a statement in Jakarta on Thursday. During a meeting of the Archipelagic Regions Bill Special Committee in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/7), Hendry said he had initiated communication between the Kepulauan Meranti Regency Government and the Special Committee. The Regent and the Kepulauan Meranti DPRD have also met with the Chair of the Special Committee to submit proposals and requests for the region to be included in the draft law. Hendry assessed that the Archipelagic Regions Bill is a strategic instrument to reduce development disparities in archipelagic areas, which have long faced limitations in infrastructure and basic services. He noted that in Kepulauan Meranti, several sub-districts still lack adequate basic development needs such as roads, bridges, and electricity. Moreover, Kepulauan Meranti is categorised as a 3T region (frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped), so the committee’s work must not overlook regions in genuine need. He has requested the leadership and members to review which regions should be included. He stressed that recognition of Kepulauan Meranti as an archipelagic region is important so that the area has greater access to the government’s affirmative policies in accelerating equitable development. The current draft of the Archipelagic Regions Bill lists 10 provinces and 85 regencies/cities categorised as archipelagic regions, but Kepulauan Meranti Regency is not yet included.