Preparations for Cirebon province continue apace

Preparations for Cirebon province continue apace

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

The pressure to turn Cirebon and the surrounding area into a
separate province is mounting following a decision by local
public figures on Monday to set up a preparatory committee.

"We agreed on the need to form a committee that will prepare
for the formation of Cirebon province, starting from the general
concept to the operational details," said Cirebon's City Council
Speaker Suryana, who initiated the meeting on Monday.

Attending the gathering were several local council speakers
from the neighboring regencies of Indramayu, Kuningan, Majalengka
and Cirebon. Other notable participants included Cirebon's Sultan
Maulana Pakuningrat XIII, cultural scholar Ki Abdul Ajib, and the
local head of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) Ayip
Muhammad.

The proposed province consists of the territory formerly held
by Cirebon during the Dutch colonial days.

Suryana said that the participants had further agreed to hold
a Cirebon people's congress to legitimize the call for the
establishment of a province, he said.

"The Cirebon people's congress will result in a concept that
will combine cultural legitimation and politico-structural
legitimation," he said, adding that the venue and timing of the
congress had yet to be decided on.

The calls for a separate province first emerged in November
last year. They grew louder amid criticism of the West Java
administration's slow handling of the drought crisis in Cirebon
and surrounding regencies.

Suryana also charged that the West Java administration, which
has its seat in Bandung, was discriminative and arrogant.

According to Suryana, Bandung pays little attention to
developing Cirebon's abundant natural resources and its harbor.

Chairman of the Cirebon Council Speakers' Association Iwan
Hendrawan said West Java province should call itself the province
of Bandung.

West Java has already lost Banten, which became a separate
province in 2000.

According to Law No. 22/1999, a plan to form a separate
province requires approval from both the governor and the
legislative council of the province concerned.