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.