Natuna wants to pull out from Kepri province

Natuna wants to pull out from Kepri province

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A delegation representing Natuna regency opposed their inclusion
in the newly formed Riau Island (Kepri) province and, instead,
declared a desire to remain as part of Riau province.

Daeng Rusnadi, who led the Natuna delegation, after a meeting
with President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday at the
Presidential Palace, said that Natuna wanted to remain an
integral part of Riau province in order to receive its share of
the province's fiscal balance in natural resources exploration.

"As part of Riau (province), Natuna will remain one of eight
oil- and gas-rich regencies in the province, while Natuna will be
obliged to shoulder the economic burden of other regencies in
Riau Island if it joins the new province, because it is the only
one who has natural resources," Rusnadi remarked.

He explained that staying as part of Riau province the regency
have received around Rp 112 billion (US$14.2million) annually
under the fiscal balance.

Natuna, made up of several islands, is located in the South
China Sea between the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, and has
huge deposits of oil and gas that have yet to be explored
optimally.

The Natuna issue surfaced following the controversial
formation of the Riau Islands province, which nevertheless had
the full support of the House of Representatives.

The House, exercising its legislative authority to prepare the
bill on the formation of the new province, pressured the central
government to accept the new province. Riau has opposed the
formation of the new province and to finance its development,
because it failed to win the support of all regencies in the
proposed province.

President Megawati has approved Law No. 25/2002 but has not
yet issued any decree to enforce it, because the formation of the
new province has met opposition both from Riau and Natuna.

The delegation, mostly comprising members of the Natuna
regency legislature, said they had never given any support for
the establishment of the new province, because it would certainly
overburden the regency.

"We respect the decision on the formation of the new province,
but we do not desire to be included in Riau Island province,
because we have never supported the legislation process," he
said.

In response to the demand from the Natuna delegation, Megawati
called on them remain calm, because the law on the new province
would be enforced within the next three years.

The formation of new provinces and regencies have been a
rising trend since the implementation of regional autonomy in
Jan. 2000. The decentralization has been a blessing for resource-
rich regions such as Riau, East Kalimantan, Aceh and Papua, but
it has provoked jealous reactions from those provinces that lack
natural resources.

Another similar case is the formation of the provinces of West
and Central Irian Jaya, which has met with opposition from the
Papuan political elite, who fear losing revenues tied to natural
resources located in the two new provinces.