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.