More autonomy bills drafted
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is preparing several bills that will bolster the implementation of regional autonomy including the one on the arrangement of territorial borders to avoid conflict among regional administrations.
"If there is a law (on territorial borders), we will always use it as a reference," Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno told a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission II for legal and home affairs here on Wednesday.
He also said that his office was preparing bills on the revisions to Law No. 22/1999 on Regional Administration, Law No. 25/1999 on the Fiscal Balance between Central and Regional Administrations, and Law No. 34/1999 on the Capital City.
Other bills that the home ministry is preparing included bills on the formation of new territories, population, civil registration, tax and retribution, regional state enterprises, and social organizations.
Hari said those bills would help promote the implementation of the decentralization process.
The bill on territorial borders is urgently needed to avoid conflicts among regional administrations.
In some areas, the formation of a new regency has drawn conflict among local fishermen because they were not allowed to catch fish in the waters of neighboring regencies.
During the hearing presided over by commission chairman Teras Narang, some legislators raised concerns on the implementation of regional autonomy, especially the inability of regional administrations to deal with the various responsibilities involved.
The minister disclosed that based on Government Regulation No. 25/2001, inter-city roads, irrigation, junior high school buildings and literature supplies were the responsibility of regional administrations.
To this point, the maintenance of intercity roads and irrigation was still being done by the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure, while school buildings and literature supplies were still the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education.
The minister also expressed concerns over regional administrations' reluctance to take over the responsibilities.
"Some regional administrations often reject responsibilities that come with the regional autonomy arguing that they are burdens to their government," Hari said.
During the hearing, the minister also expressed concerns over increasing demands to form new regencies or provinces.
He said that the implementation of the Law. No. 22/1999 on Regional Administration, also known as the Autonomy Law, could prevent national disintegration.