Regional autonomy makes little headway

Regional autonomy makes little headway

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Regional autonomy, including special autonomy in the conflict-
ridden provinces of Aceh and Papua, has made little headway in
the years since its introduction, not only due to the
government's apparent reluctance to implement the law, but also
local leadership problems.

Five years after its introduction in January 2000, autonomy --
which was initially granted to redeem the central government's
sins, particularly during the New Order era -- is yet to make any
significant improvements to public services, social welfare or
regions' competitiveness, as stipulated in the newly amended 1945
Constitution and the regional autonomy law.

Of course, it is fantastic progress that the nation is
entering a new era, a condition far different from that of the
New Order era, with its corrupt, centralistic government under
Soeharto.

In the current set up, regional autonomy rests on regencies
and municipalities. Each regency and municipality annually
receives a huge amount of money -- General Allocation Funds (DAU)
and Special Allocation Funds (DAK) -- to deal with their
"domestic" affairs, including developing their potential to
improve annual revenue and to empower their own people.

But so far, autonomy is yet to yield significant changes to
social welfare and democracy.

Take an extreme instance: Riau is known for its rich natural
resources, and has the highest annual per capita income in the
country, but the province has not yet been able to provide free
medical services for residents suffering from Malaria, or free
education under the compulsory nine-year preliminary education
program.

Malaria has infected the majority of people living in the
province's swampy areas, especially in Indragiri Hilir, Indragiri
Hulu and Kerinci regencies.

Besides having no scheme to protect the environment, which has
not helped when floods submerge the province almost every year,
Riau has failed to attract foreign investors, due to its corrupt
bureaucracy and poor infrastructure.

Another extreme example is Alor in East Nusa Tenggara and
Nabire in Papua, which were recently hit by strong earthquakes.

Regional autonomy did not quicken the disbursement of
emergency aid to disaster victims in the two regencies.
Many tremor victims have been suffering from malaria,
malnutrition, diarrhea, and respiratory problems due to the
absence of medical facilities. The central government's
humanitarian aid arrived in Alor several days after the arrival
of the Japanese government's aid relief in the regency.

Regional autonomy is no guarantee that regions are better
prepared to handle natural disasters and local administrations
will supply relief aid faster than under the centralistic
administration.

Disaster victims in Nabire will likely face a similar fate,
since hundreds of people injured in the tremor have not yet
received the necessary medical aid, while thousands of those
taking refuge in safe areas and staying in makeshift tents are
yet to be supplied with enough food.

Nabire residents also faced such a condition in February, when
the lives of seven people were claimed. Humanitarian aid from the
central and provincial administrations reached the regency two
months after the disaster, with transportation laid to blame.

According to the regional autonomy law, autonomy should
improve public services, social welfare and regions'
competitiveness.

No region has given top priority to the development of public
health, transportation and education, three basic services, which
comprise the very least the government could provide in return
for taxpayers' money.

However, these three services have almost become luxuries in
the regions, particularly in remote areas, where people still
lack adequate health care, are poorly educated and find
transportation costly. As WHO's 2004 annual report shows,
Indonesia is ranked lowest in the human development index (HDI),
for the poor condition of its education and health sectors.

Regional autonomy has faltered in the unreadiness of regional
administrations, with many regional heads and councilors involved
in power abuse.

A number of governors, regents, mayors and legislators elected
in the 1999 general election are still serving prison terms for
their involvement in corruption.

The absence of legal certainty could also be seen both in
gubernatorial and regental elections and in the unveiling by
regional chiefs of annual progress reports.

In certain regions, gubernatorial and regental elections ran
into trouble due to the excessive interference of political
parties, and the heavy bearing of Jakarta's "final say". The
gubernatorial elections in Lampung, Central Java and North
Sumatra, and the regental ones in many regencies over the last
two years, verged on farcical, due to the excessive interference
of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who also chairs the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Several regents and mayors in Riau, Central and West Java were
dismissed by the former president for political rather than legal
reasons.

The recently concluded review of the regional autonomy law
failed to provide a more apt concept of regional autonomy
because, besides focusing more on direct regional leadership
elections, Law No. 32/2004 regulates not regional autonomy but
power-sharing between Jakarta and the regions.

Under Law No. 32/2004, the central government does not only
deal with foreign policy, defense, courts, religious and monetary
affairs as stipulated in Law No. 25/1999 on regional
administration, it has also assumed the authority to plan
development, and control and implement general policies in all
sectors.

Jakarta has also re-centralized the recruitment of civil
servants and the promotion of local echelon officials and
reinstated the government's hierarchy, with the President in the
top position and village heads ranked lowest.

As during the New Order era, regents and mayors are obliged to
uphold the accountability of their administrations, not only to
regental or municipal legislatures, but also to governors, while
governors are required to maintain the accountability of their
administrations, not only to provincial legislatures but also to
the President through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The law was strongly opposed by regents, mayors and their
respective associations. Neither did it win the positive response
of Jakarta amid the rampant power abuse of regional heads and
local politicians.

They have also expressed their skepticism toward Susilo and
his new government for his failure to propose changes to the
autonomy drive.

The skepticism of regions and analysts emerged when Susilo
failed to include an autonomy portfolio in his Cabinet lineup
and, instead, appointed M. Ma'ruf, a retired Army lieutenant
general, as Minister of Home Affairs overseeing the Directorate
General of Public Administration and Regional Autonomy.

Public administration expert Ryaas Rasyid has questioned the
Army's monopoly in the home affairs ministry, saying the ministry
was in urgent need of a professional minister, instead of a
retired general, to deal with regional autonomy and to help speed
up the development of true democracy in the regions.