LIPI drafts democratic autonomy bill

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) is set to propose a bill on regional autonomy that recommends that regents, mayors and governors as well as members of legislative councils be elected directly by local people.

"We will submit it soon after we make some amendments or revisions to the draft law," senior LIPI researcher Mochtar Pabottingi told The Jakarta Post after addressing a seminar to discuss the bill here on Monday.

Mochtar is a member of the LIPI team set up to draft a bill on decentralization and regional autonomy. The five-member team is led by noted political analyst Syamsuddin Haris from the same state institute.

The bill is being drafted to provide input to the government and the House of Representatives, for the plan to revise Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy that -- according to the government -- contains flaws that could endanger the unitary state of Indonesia.

The bill stipulates that the direct elections of governor, mayor and regent as well as their deputies are organized by local general election commissions (KPU).

Individuals are allowed to nominate themselves as independent candidates as heads of local administrations to challenge those from political parties represented in local legislatures.

Currently, regents, mayors and governors are elected by local legislative councils, with candidates being nominated only by political parties having seats in the councils.

Nevertheless, like the current contentious law on regional autonomy, the bill allows councils to dismiss regents, mayors and governors for certain offenses. Their removal would be binding after being approved by the president.

The bill also says that without approval by the provincial council, the president can also directly fire a governor found guilty of treason or guilty of other crimes that could lead to the disintegration of the country based on a court verdict.

It did not say whether heads of local administrations and other government officials would have to resign should they be charged with or convicted of a crime.

The bill states that a convicted person and/or suspect in a criminal case is not allowed to contest the direct election of a regional chief.

Candidates must be university graduates at the least. Currently, senior high school graduates can become president, governors, mayors and regents.

The bill says members of legislative councils are also elected directly by local people, adding that the move must comply with the electoral law.

However, the election bill being deliberated at the House of Representatives stipulates that legislators in the central and regional levels are appointed by their political parties through general elections.

Made Suhandi, a senior official at the Ministry of Home Affairs, told Tuesday's seminar that he supported the new autonomy bill drafted by LIPI in cooperation with the Partnership for Governance Reform.

"We agree to it. We should back the bill because LIPI is a credible and nonpartisan institute, and the Ministry of Home Affairs is ready to further discuss the bill in more detail," he said.

Other speakers at the forum, including Indragiri Regent Rusli Zainal, also voiced support for the draft law to be submitted to the House.

Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno recently said the government would revise the current autonomy law, which had caused disputes between the central and regional administrations.

He suggested last January that at least 68 bylaws enacted by provincial and regency administrations be revoked as they contradicted state laws.

Earlier, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) demanded that thousands of bylaws be scrapped or reviewed because they apparently hinder businesses in the regions.

However, critics have accused the central government of "incompetence and insincerity" in its attempts to share power with the regions.

Autonomy law expert Ryaas Rasyid, who is a staunch critic of the law, has said autonomy implementation had been hampered by thousands of incompatible bylaws and presidential decrees related to mining, education, health services, forestry, investment, trade and industry.

"There are hundreds or thousands of problematic regional regulations and at least 197 presidential decrees, which should immediately be revoked but the central government refuses to do so," Ryaas said last month.