Regional autonomy simply absurd, experts say

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In order to ensure regional autonomy, the government has been urged to amend the law on regional administrations, which still places governors, mayors and regents as subordinates of the central government.

Researcher Sjamsuddin Haris from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that regional autonomy empowerment must be preceded by the amendment of Law No. 32/2004 on regional autonomy.

"The spirit of the law is still (a) centralistic (government)," he told a seminar attended by very few participants on Thursday.

Sjamsuddin said that the law, for instance, stipulates that the central government conduct monitoring and training of local administrations, thus obligating these administrations to always consult with the central government.

The law also states that local legislative councils, whose members are directly elected, are an element of local administrations, he added.

He said that without good regulation, the upcoming direct regional elections would just be a procedural achievement instead of substantial, as they would not contribute to the quality improvement of democratization and regional autonomy in the country.

LIPI researcher Siti Zuhro similarly said that the law on regional autonomy only supported the political interests of major parties and lawmakers.

"Slowly but surely, regional autonomy will be eliminated. There will be no legal certainty that we will receive good service from local government. The autonomy is only for the elite," she said.

Legal revisions through the Constitutional Court were still partial and did not satisfy those wanting to amend the law, Siti said. "The law must be amended to avoid controversy."

A similar view was expressed by another researcher Syarif Hidayat who said Law No. 32/2004 was a fait accompli as it was passed without going through a public debate.

"A democratic governmental system cannot be pursued merely through local direct elections. It must be inherent within the democratic behavior after the elections. Since the process of the regional elections is not yet democratic, and filled with collusive practices, the post-election (administration) will be no different," he said.

The process of direct regional elections, Syarif added, was full of conspiracies between politics and business, and it would be no surprise that local executive chiefs would be more loyal to their political and business patrons than to their constituents.

"What will emerge after the elections is a 'shadow state' or 'shadow government', which is defeated by other powers outside governmental structure; and 'informal economy' or collusion between government and business sectors," Syarif said.

Instead of regional autonomy, he added, what will appear is a hidden autonomy where local elites manipulate formal policies to gain personal profits.

"Therefore, clear regulations are very much needed," Syarif said.

He said direct regional elections are still needed to pursue good local governance, but political campaigns for people need to be boosted.

"Money politics is unavoidable, with many justifying it as a 'political cost'. To reduce the practice of money politics, monitoring has to be improved," Syarif said.

Sjamsuddin added that local consensus has to be established to minimize problems caused by the direct regional elections.

"It's not guaranteed that regulations can protect local people. Therefore, local initiatives or regulations are needed," he said.