Oil-rich regencies protest oil and gas bill
Oil-rich regencies protest oil and gas bill
JAKARTA (JP): Regents of oil producing areas protested on
Monday an oil and gas bill which is expected to be passed into
law next month.
The Consultative Forum of Oil Producing Regencies chairman,
Irianto M.S. Syaifuddin, said that the forum had demanded a role
in formulating the national oil and gas policy and in supervising
the implementation of the policy.
But, he said, the government and the House of Representatives
had failed to pay any attention to the demand in the debating
process of the oil and gas bill.
"We have delivered our proposal to the House, but we only
received an answer that the House will help," Irianto, who is
also regent of Indramayu regency in West Java, told a media
conference.
The forum, established in September, has members from 45
regencies, five municipalities and 14 provinces.
Under the forum's proposal, the new oil and gas law should
have a clause requiring the formation of a special agency, called
the Coordinating Board of National Oil and Gas, where the forum
would have representatives.
This "super" agency would be assigned to watch over the
Executive Body, which, under the oil and gas bill, will take over
state oil and gas company Pertamina's role of supervising and
managing the country's oil and gas industry.
Legislators said last week that they had completed a debate of
the oil and gas bill proposed by the government and are now
putting finishing touches on the bill before it is officially
passed into law in a plenary session slated for mid-October.
The new law is aimed at liberalizing the country's oil and gas
sector, removing Pertamina's decades-long monopoly on the sector
and turn the state company into a limited-liability company.
Irianto called on the House to postpone the plenary session to
pass the bill into law until it is reviewed to accommodate the
forum's aspiration.
He said any rejection of the demand by the House could create
dissatisfaction among people in the regencies and create security
problems for oil and gas operations in the areas.
"If the oil and gas producing regions are denied a
participation (in forming oil gas policies), this will create a
fatal consequence," he warned.
East Lampung regent Irfan N. Djafar called on the government
and the House not to underestimate the role of local authorities
in providing security for oil and gas companies.
"Thus far, we have taken pains to persuade local people not to
take anarchic action against oil and gas companies in their
areas. But it seems that the central government and the House are
not sensitive to the problems," Irfan said.
Separately, legislator Julius Bobo of the Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle faction said the demand would be
hardly accepted as the House had assumed the central government
had coordinated with regional administrations prior to submitting
the bill.
"If the regency administrations act like that, the districts
and the villages will follow, and the country will be in
disorder, " he told The Jakarta Post.
Besides, he said, the forum had submitted its proposal when
the House and the government were about to finalize the debate of
the oil and gas bill.
He suggested the regencies have further talks with the central
government over what suitable roles should be given them. (iwa)