S'pore offers training to Indonesian officials

S'pore offers training to Indonesian officials

SINGAPORE (AP): Hundreds of officials from cities and
provinces in Indonesia will come to Singapore to hone their
administrative skills now that they've been granted more
autonomy, a business school said Monday.

Thirty provincial governors and about 500 mayors and other
local Indonesian officials will take part in the program run by
the Singapore Institute of Commerce, or SIC, school directors
said on Monday.

A new autonomy law that took effect this year gives
Indonesia's regional governments more control over local affairs.
The move is aimed at cooling separatist movements in parts of the
sprawling archipelago.

However, implementing the new law has proven difficult as many
inexperienced and under-trained professionals take on new duties.
In some parts of the country this has led to temporary breakdowns
in public services such as water supply, road maintenance and
education.

"Everybody always wants the power, but then they turn around
and say, 'Oops, we've also got the responsibility,"' said SIC
executive director Michael Cope.

Though Indonesia is a vast nation of more than 200 million
people on thousands of islands, Singapore - a tiny city-state
with 4 million people - can show the trainees examples of
administrative efficiency, Cope said.

The courses, expected to begin in the next few months, will
likely cost more than 500,000 Singapore dollars (US$285,000) and
will be paid for by the Association of Provincial Governors of
Indonesia.