Regions criticize govt for autonomy amendment

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.