Regions criticize govt for autonomy amendment
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Chairman of Regency Administrations' Association (Apkasi) Syaukani criticized on Saturday the government's decision to annul the supervisory function of regional governments over their respective budgets, saying the move would only hamper the administration of regions.
Syaukani, also regent of Kutai Kertanegara in East Kalimantan, said it was ineffective for the central government to supervise the budget of each regency.
"Regional administrations know better about the needs of their people than the central government. Besides, isn't Jakarta too far to supervise the budget of each regency," he told The Jakarta Post.
Syaukani was commenting on the amendment to Law no. 22/1999 on fiscal balance.
Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno said on Friday that the government had agreed to appoint his ministry to supervise all regental and municipal budgets. He did not explain the reason behind the change.
Currently, regional budgets are supervised by regional legislators.
Syaukani said the decision to restore the budget supervisory function to the central government only reinforced suspicions that Jakarta was trying to cut down the authority of regencies or municipalities guaranteed by Law No. 22/1999, also known as the Regional Autonomy Law.
"Jakarta is being totally irrational in reducing the authority of regional administrations," said Syaukani.
In a bid to appease widespread anger among the country's provinces, the central government implemented regional autonomy in 2000, during the leadership of Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, since she took over national leadership in 2001, has repeatedly expressed her disagreement with regional autonomy, saying that it granted excessive power to regional leaders.
Restoring the budget supervisory authority to the home ministry was among several amendments to the Regional Autonomy Law being prepared by the government. The amendments have not yet been submitted to the House of Representatives for approval.
The government is pushing to complete the amendments and submit them to the House for deliberation before a new government is installed this October.
Megawati has always maintained that the autonomy law should be revised, as it created an opportunity for the regents to become "little kings" of their regions.
Syaukani, referring to the above comment, said there was nothing wrong with being a "king" over their areas as long as they were good "kings" who thought about the people's welfare.
Separately, Yogyakarta governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X said on Saturday that most regional leaders had a mistaken perception of autonomy and failed to think about the people.
"With autonomy, many regional leaders have become so arrogant, believing that they hold full authority to rule over their regions," the governor said as quoted by Antara.
The governor also said that such attitudes had threatened national unity and there was thus an urgent need to rectify the situation.
He underlined that autonomy should be used to improve the lives of the people, not to enrich the leaders of each region.