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.