Riau legislative council rejects new oil and gas law

Riau legislative council rejects new oil and gas law

M. Ara Syaf, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru

The resource-rich Riau provincial legislature has rejected the
House of Representatives newly-endorsed oil and gas law which the
legislature says still gives a dominant role to the central
government and provides no justice for local people.

The provincial legislative council, in its plenary session in
the province capital of Pekanbaru on Monday, rejected complying
with the new law and, along with other resource-rich provinces,
would stage social dissent unless the central government revised
it.

The legislature said all wealth from natural resources
exploration went to the central government and state-owned
Pertamina which had caused 43 percent of local people to live
under the poverty line while 65 percent had not even graduated
from elementary school.

"The law must be revised because it is against the regional
autonomy and does not provide any role for the province to
undertake its own resource exploration," said the legislature's
statement read by Abdul Kadir Salim, chairman of Commission IV on
social affairs.

Nurbay Yus, another legislator, called on the provincial
legislature to take over the central government's assets in the
province until the law was revised.

"The legislature must be brave and take strict action. We
could block the central government's assets and take over
Pertamina's offices in the province," he said.

Outside the plenary session, some 700 workers of PT Tri Patra
and a score of students staged a demonstration to protest the
law.

Under the new law, the government will set up executive and
regulatory bodies to take over Pertamina's previous roles.

The executive body will take over Pertamina's role in dealing
with foreign oil and gas contractors, while the regulatory body
will manage domestic fuel supplies and distribution.

The new law stipulates that the two bodies must be established
within one year after the enactment of the law, while Pertamina
must become a limited liability company within two years.

Chaidir, chairman of the provincial legislative council,
asserted after the plenary session that the legislature's
rejection of the law had nothing to do with money but with the
Riau people's dignity.

"It is very unfair that the central government has monopolized
natural resources in the province while a majority of local
people still live below the poverty line," he said.

Al Azhar, chairman of Riau's People Congress, hailed the
legislature's decision, saying they would cooperate with the
legislature to fight for the law's review.

"Riau must gain a bigger portion of the government's income
from resource exploration in the province to better help local
people's social welfare," he said.

Al Azhar, Congress chairman, hailed the legislative council's
rejection of the law because the central government did not
distribute a fair portion of its income from resource exploration
in the province.

"We are ready to launch dissent against the central
government," he said.