Regency legislatures to prepare formation of Cirebon province
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.