Regency legislatures to prepare formation of Cirebon province

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon

The leadership of five regency legislative councils in West Java were slated to meet in Cirebon on Thursday to conduct preliminary preparations for the planned formation of Cirebon province.

Iwan Hendrawan, chairman of the Indramayu regency legislature, said here on Wednesday that during the meeting, the five regency legislatures would officially announce the details of the preliminary preparations and would begin to discuss the legal and political basis for legislation in the new province.

Those who have confirmed their attendance at the meeting were Maskub Buntoro, chairman of the Cirebon regency legislature, Cucup Supardjo, chairman of the Majalengka legislature, Ading Akhyadi, chairman of the Kuningan legislature, Iwan Suryana, chairman of Cirebon city legislature and Iwan Hendrawan.

"In addition to declaring the official preparations for the formation of the new province, we will discuss constitutional and political regulations on the formation of a new province in line with regional autonomy," said Iwan, who was accompanied by Suryana.

Besides the five legislatures, Karawang and Ciamis have also given their weight behind the proposed province.

Iwan added that another important issue to be discussed in the meeting was the guarantee of security for foreign investors who were operating in the region.

"We will give a guarantee for foreign investors that the proposed formation of the new province will not adversely affect their investments. In fact, we will offer legal and security protection for them," he said.

He said foreign mining, manufacturing, offshore drilling and tobacco companies operating along the region's coastal areas would be protected because their presence would provide a huge contribution to the new province.

Several off-shore oil companies and a number of foreign manufacturing companies, including British American Tobacco (BAT), are already present in the region. ExxonMobil is planning to invest in the region.

The proposed formation of Cirebon province, which won the backing of the Cirebon sultanate has met opposition with the West Java provincial legislative council and authorities who have argued that the region was an integral part of the province.

Banten was separated from West Java and developed into a new province in 2000.

Suryana asserted that the region's five regencies have the political right to determine their own future in line with the reform movement and regional autonomy.

"Cirebon deserves a new province if the region wishes to optimize its economic, cultural and political assets so as to better the social welfare of local people," he said.

He reiterated that the five regencies not only have the economic potential to develop into a new province, but are also culturally different to predominantly Sundanese West Java.

"So, the West Java legislature has no plausible reason to block the five regencies from forming a new province," he said.

He also said the five legislatures would invite local figures and informal leaders to a large gathering in the near future to seek support for the new province.

Meanwhile, an alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gave their support for the proposed formation of Cirebon province.

They called on the five legislatures to go ahead with their move to form the new province, despite opposition.

"We call on the five legislatures to make all the necessary preparations to form the new province because it is our political right to do so," said Syaiful Rachman, spokesman for the NGO alliance.

The NGOs were Greenland, Pelangi Bahari, Indonesian Youth Committee, Natural Resources Development Foundation (YPSDA), Gempuling, PSDABM and Humanit.