Regional autonomy in the eyes of Islam

Regional autonomy in the eyes of Islam

From Forum Keadilan

Regional autonomy has presented various problems. This was
admitted by the Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy,
who stated that certain authorities remain a crucial barrier
between the central government and provincial administrations. In
other words, regional autonomy has prompted a conflict of
interest between the central government and provinces and between
neighboring provinces and regencies.

Examples include the problem of relocating employees, the
distribution of general funds from central government to regional
administrations that have insufficient funds to pay local civil
servants their salaries as well as other operational costs in
running their bureaucracies. No less crucial is the possibility
that the practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism will move
from the center to the regions.

In my opinion, the delegation of full authority and
responsibility from the center to the regions is contradictory to
the Islamic government system. Islam has made it an obligation
for Islamic countries to adopt a unitary system. Although
khilafah (a unitary country) consists of a number of regions,
each region remains part of the unit.

So if a Muslim society has elected a khafilah (leader), the
latter has the right to stipulate regulations to be implemented
by the administration. He is also entitled to establish laws by
which to govern the financial affairs of the whole territory.
Then the governors, judges and military commanders of the regions
serve only as helpers, aiding the central leader in executing his
policies. Regional authorities have no right to determine
policies in full and should have no complete control over their
affairs without the knowledge and supervision of central
government.

Central government should manage the budget of each of the
regions proportionally. If a region has a financial surplus, it
shouldn't spend all its funds as the expenditure should
correspond to its necessities. Any excess funds should be
transferred to the central treasury. On the other hand, if a
region experiences a deficit, the khafilah must allocate funds to
the region concerned to cope with its problems.

Individual necessity should be taken care of in a fair manner.
The state should collect wealth from the public according to
Islamic rules, and in turn, distribute it justly among the people
in order to be sure that wealth isn't solely managed to benefit
only the rich.

So the regional autonomy is still a speculation and its result
remains to be seen.

AULIYA ASH SHIDDIQ

Garut, West Java