Pressure grows for Bali special autonomy status

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Amid public anger in Bali over the latest terrorist attacks on the island, a number of senior local politicians and intellectuals have launched a campaign to push for special autonomy.

Local politicians from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and student activists -- who have been at the forefront of the movement -- said such special status would bring more prosperity and security to Bali.

"Bali is a unique entity, from the cultural perspective as well as the social and religious ones. It is also provides the backbone of the nation's tourism industry, contributing millions of dollars to the state treasury," intellectual and legal expert Dewa Ngurah Swastha said on Thursday.

"In this respect, it is quite natural that we should ask the government to grant the island special autonomy," he said.

Swastha is one of the members of the Special Autonomy Committee (TSA), which has been established to prepare the legal groundwork for special autonomy. The 21-member committee was set up after a meeting initiated by the Bali provincial chapter of the PDI-P.

Chaired by Bali Deputy Governor Alit Kesuma Kelakan of the PDI-P, the team comprises representatives from various political parties, religious and community leaders, and other well-known local figures, including noted economist Erawan, respected anthropologist I Wayan Geria and expert in traditional Balinese law I Wayan Windia.

"So far, we have met twice to review all the existing regulations on regional autonomy and budgeting, and to assess all the social, cultural and economic resources of the island," Swastha said.

Meanwhile, the Bali legislative council has also established a special committee (Pansus) to weigh up the available political options for applying for special autonomy.

"The drafts and recommendations produced by the two committees will be submitted to the Bali governor's office, which will be responsible for compiling, reviewing and drafting the final document before we go to Jakarta," Swastha said.

The final document is expected to set out at least two critical demands.

"First, we want wider and greater powers for the governor and the provincial administration. The current Local Autonomy Law has actually reduced the powers of the provincial administration and increased the powers of the regents and regental administrations," Swastha said.

Being a small island, he argued, the prevailing arrangement rendered the provincial administration ineffective, and fragmented the island along regency lines, thus preventing the implementation of island-wide, unified policies.

"Second, we want an appropriate share of the island's tourism revenues and also a healthy share of the profits made by a number of state companies in Bali, such as the firms running Ngurah Rai International Airport and Benoa harbor," he said.

"Up to now, the bulk of the tourism revenues goes to the central government and we've never got anything substantial from the state companies," he complained.

The move has, however, been greeted coolly by other politicians and intellectuals.

"I don't think that special autonomy will automatically solve all of the problems we are currently facing," said influential legislator Widiada.

"More money and more powers will be useless if the local bureaucrats do not have the ability to run an efficient and clean administration," he added.

This rival group fears that in the end the move would simply mean a shift in corruption and abuse of power from the central government to the provincial or regental administrations.

"Here we have many legislators who only care about new cars and salary increases, and bureaucrats who try their best to enrich themselves. Given this background, special autonomy or not, for the Balinese people nothing will change for the better," poet Tan Lioe Ie said.