Power to the regions?

Power to the regions?

The last thing Indonesia needs now is another excuse for more
corruption and abuse of public office, and the new regional
autonomy policy launched on New Year's Day is in danger of
becoming that excuse. Even months prior to its launch, reports
streamed in about regional officials turning the new policy into
a vehicle to fill up their own personal coffers.

A regent in East Kalimantan, for instance, was found to have
parceled out its forests to the highest bidders; an action that
environmentalists called a "misdeed", however, became on New
Year's day a legal deed as the new policy stipulates the
authority to issue "minor" concession rights to regional
administrations.

This is only one example of a long list of feared excesses of
the Law No. 22/1999 on regional administration and Law No.
25/1999 on fiscal balance. Another example was the demand by a
group of fishermen in Central Java for a ban against fishing by
people from neighboring areas in what they claimed was their
territory.

Envisioned by a small group of people -- most notably Ryaas
Rasyid who later became President Abdurrahman Wahid's state
minister of regional autonomy -- as the answer to the evils of
the heavily centralized regimes of the past, the regional
autonomy policy promises lofty ideals.

It is expected to not only bring the government closer to the
public in order that the delivery of services and goods can be
improved, but it is also considered the means to democratize the
government. It is also expected to allay the threats of
disintegration looming over the archipelago and promises to
empower people in their choices of how they want to develop their
own potentials.

But since the inception of the laws, scholars and laymen alike
have come up with objection after objection against the policy,
the main fear being that greater powers for regional officials
would mean more opportunities for corruption and the abuse of
office.

Another often cited concern is that the autonomy policy would
stoke antipluralist sentiments; reports of examples have surfaced
including the demands of groups of people to have only putra
daerah (native sons) as regional officials. Another concern is
the poor legal preparations as a number of existing laws and
regulations have yet to be amended in accordance with the new
policy.

Ryaas, who since the August Cabinet reshuffle has been nudged
out of any position to influence the implementation of the new
policy, has dismissed the objections as "stupid rhetoric." Ryaas,
who has hinted of his imminent resignation, was particularly
bitter about how the central government is going about
implementing the policy (President Abdurrahman has refused to
establish a powerful autonomy supervisory board and, instead,
opted for a lower-level directorate general). He was adamant that
the autonomy policy must be implemented at all costs, but
predicted chaos would greet it.

While regional autonomy can indeed lead to greater
democratization in this country, it would be wrong or even futile
to dismiss the concerns of the doomsayers.

Not only were the policies conceived hastily by the
administration of B.J. Habibie -- anxious to ride the powerful
coattail of the reform movement -- to display a commitment to
public demand, but they have also gone too long without proper
introduction. By August, only one set of directives (Government
Regulation No. 25/2000) had been issued. Furthermore, only days
before the Jan. 1 launching did Director General of Regional
Administration and Regional Autonomy, Sudarsono, admit to having
hastily produced another 15 much-needed set of guidelines during
the September-December period. Nothing has been said over whether
the 400 regents and mayors across the country have been fully
briefed about the new directives and their implications, even
though a number of them have confessed to being baffled by Laws
22 and 25 because there was not enough time to study them.

What is lacking in legal infrastructure can be compensated, at
least for the time it is needed to carefully produce and
disseminate the legislation, by a strong leadership in order that
each element involved in the implementation will be able to work
for the good of all. Unfortunately, the current administration
has time and again shown to be lacking in that department.

The success of the regional autonomy policy, the realization
of its lofty ideals, including greater democracy, must ultimately
depend upon the ability of local administrations to exercise self
restraint against the temptation to abuse their newly acquired
power.