Megawati warns regions of misuse of authority

Megawati warns regions of misuse of authority

SUMEDANG, West Java (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri
warned regional administrations here on Friday not to misuse
their authority by competing to acquire natural resources and
imposing additional taxes and levies on the public.

"Such policies will only generate new environmental problems
and dim the business climate in the regions," she said when
addressing 612 graduates of the Institute of State Administration
in Jatinangor, Sumedang, some 15 kilometers east of the West Java
capital Bandung.

It was Megawati's first official domestic trip since she was
elected President on Monday. Following speech to the graduates,
she flew to Palu, Central Sulawesi, and Makassar, South Sulawesi,
where she will inaugurate several projects on Saturday.

The institute, which was established in Malang, East Java, on
March 1, 1956, has produced 5,489 graduates, who have been placed
in various governmental institutions in the archipelago.

"Indonesians must gradually become self-supportive. And the
regional administrations, with their autonomy, should become the
backbone for the public to achieve this goal. Someday we hope to
see the regional administrations play a convincing role in
pioneering and facilitating regional development," the President
said.

Surjadi Soedirdja, the outgoing minister of home affairs and
regional autonomy, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, West Java Governor
R. Nuriana and National Resilience Institute governor Ermaya
Suradinata were among the officials accompanying the President on
the trip.

Megawati said both the central government and the public were
determined to make the regional administrations autonomous. "But
to achieve this will require creative administrators that will
work hand in hand in solid teams."

"Therefore, a new generation of state administrators is needed
to drive and stimulate the regions' growth. We need people who
have entrepreneurship and intuition, without a corruptive,
collusive and nepotistic mentality."

While Megawati was speaking, dozens of students from
Bandung's Young Indonesian Front staged a rally outside the
building, urging the President to resolve human rights
violations, including the bloody takeover of the Indonesian
Democratic Party headquarters on July 27, 1996, and the Semanggi
shootings.

In Palu, the President opened the Sulawesi Regional
Development Cooperation Board at the Golden Hotel.

Left behind

In her 35-minute address, the President said that during the
last two decades eastern Indonesia had been left behind other
parts of the country.

"Many say that investment is the only way to develop this
area. However, investors will come only after the infrastructure
is in place. The problem is that the government does not have the
funds to build the required infrastructure."

She reiterated that the country had yet to emerge from the
lingering economic crisis.

"Cooperation among the provinces is a good way to deal with
the crisis," she said.

The President also criticized provincial officials who
appeared to care little for the development of their regions.

"I have been informed that several provincial officials have
been unable to come up with any development programs for their
provinces despite the abundant money allocated by the provincial
budgets. The officials eventually went to Jakarta for a
comparative study, so they claimed. But they just bought new
houses in Jakarta," she said to the applause of the audience.

The President's entourage then flew to Makassar, South
Sulawesi.

As promised by local officials and authorities, there was not
a single protester there to greet Megawati.

Local journalist, who followed Megawati from the airport to
the Sedona Hotel, were disappointed by her decision not issue any
statements. (24/25/27/sur)