Megawati slams regionalism in recruitment

Megawati slams regionalism in recruitment

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Confronted with strong opposition from regents and experts on
her move to revise the current autonomy law, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri lashed out at regional authorities on Monday for
what she termed excessive and ridiculous regionalism in
recruiting civil servants.

However, she stopped short of calling for the revision of Law
No. 22/1999 on Regional Administration, known also as the
autonomy law, a move she has long wanted to make, but which has
met strong resistance from local authorities and experts.

"Some regional authorities have refused to accept people from
other provinces becoming civil servants or provincial officials,"
Megawati said at the opening ceremony of a three-day coordination
meeting of the Office of the State Minister of Administrative
Reforms here on Monday.

"Such arrogance is a setback to the nation. If a province runs
out of eligible people to occupy certain positions, what would
the administration do? Will you bend the qualifications for the
candidates?" she asked.

She underlined that such a move would eventually muffle the
performance of regional administrations and hurt the country as a
whole.

Many regions preferred putra asli daerah (indigenous locals)
to become leaders in certain regions, Megawati said.

Megawati's criticism came after her proposal to review the
existing autonomy law, No. 22/1999, had met strong opposition
from regional councillors and leaders, who saw the move as part
of a series of moves to recentralize the government.

"The revision must be rejected since it will merely allow the
central government to reclaim power," deputy chairman of the
Association of Regional Legislative Councils (Adeksi) Ali
Hanafiah was quoted as saying earlier.

Megawati has insisted that the revision is needed as there
were several fundamental problems with the very concept of
autonomy in the current law, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2001.
The problems, she said, were related to "our statehood and
nationhood."

"We want to amend those items; indeed we must do it in order
to strengthen our national unity and the integrity of the unitary
state of the Republic of Indonesia," Megawati said in late
January.

In a bid to prevent the country from breaking up, the central
government introduced on Jan. 1, 2001 Law. 22/1999 on Regional
Administration. The legislation, however, raised much concern
that it would become another means by which regional officials
could inflate their personal incomes.

"At first I thought of bestowing the Adipura Award to the
best-managed region in the country, but then again I think it
will be of no use if the regional autonomy only encourages
excessive regionalism," Megawati said.

She reminded local administrations to concentrate on how to
improve the welfare and capability of people in each region in
order to support the implementation of regional autonomy.

Meanwhile, former state minister of administrative reforms
Ryaas Rasyid admitted on Monday that an atavistic spirit had
arisen following the downfall of former strongman Soeharto in
1998, but rejected the notion that the implementation of regional
autonomy had triggered excessive regionalism.

"The central government is supposed to formulate several
regulations to supervise the implementation of regional
autonomy," Ryaas told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"I guess the atavistic spirit can be curbed if the central
government manages to supervise local administrations through
regulations banning local authorities from giving employment
privileges to indigenous locals," Ryaas said, adding that any
violation of the regulations would face stern sanctions from
central government.

According to Ryaas, the special autonomy for two troubled
provinces, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Papua, was more atavistic
than Law No. 22/1999, but "no one complains about it."