More autonomy bills drafted
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.