'Regions' right to land use needed for autonomy'
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The central government has been told to cancel its plan to reclaim the right over land use in the regions as it would violate the Autonomy Law.
Prominent Autonomy Law expert Ryaas Rasyid said the move would further hinder the full implementation of Autonomy Law No. 22/1999 on regional administration implemented in January 2000.
"It hampers the acceleration of economic growth in the regions. Without the full right to control land, the regions cannot offer businesspeople anything for investment," he told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.
Ryaas was commenting on Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno's statement that he would draft a new regulation to allow the central government to reclaim the right over land use in the regions despite the current regional autonomy.
Hari claimed that the step would be necessary to ensure the effective use of land and to avoid its overexploitation.
Ryaas, the man behind the current Autonomy Law, said that even without the proposed regulation, the central government had already discouraged decentralization by issuing a presidential decree in 2001 to delay the regions the right to control land use.
Decree No. 10/2001 prohibits the regions from implementing control over the land until the government issues new regulations on land use based on Law No. 25/1999 on fiscal balance between the central and local administrations.
"The presidential decree remains effective and it makes the regions unable to run their administrations autonomously," Ryaas said.
Secretary-general of the Ministry of Home Affairs Siti Nurbaya echoed Hari's statement, saying that not all land usage should be determined by local administrations but some should be under the control of the central government.
"If we hand over the all rights to land usage to the regions without intervention of the central government, it could cause legal uncertainty.
"We should be careful as land is not only a state's physical asset but also carries political values," she added.
However, Nurbaya denied that the regulation would revoke the right of provinces and regencies to control land use as stipulated in the Autonomy Law.
"We hope the regulation will take effect by 2003 after consulting governors, regents and experts. It could be in the form of a ministerial or government decree," she told the Post.
Nurbaya said the new ruling would reorganize the overall authority over land use in order to stop numerous inconsistencies between laws on immigration, forestry, mining, irrigation and others.
The regulation, she added, would allow the central government to oversee land use in connection with the country's macro policies, including national spatial plans, administrative system, standardization of certification and national strategies.
Nurbaya cited an example that if the determination of land prices was not regulated nationally, it could create problems for businesspeople wanting to invest in the regions.
Another example is that if a region wanted to create huge industrial areas or real estate complexes on thousands of hectares of land, it could cause new problems if such projects were not coordinated with national spatial plans, she added.
The central government is attempting to revise the Autonomy Law in an attempt to retain some control over the regions, but the plan has met with strong opposition from governors, mayors and regents as well legislative councils.