Wanted: Less powerful regents

Wanted: Less powerful regents

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Many governors want the autonomy
law, which has been in force only for less than a year, revised
because it allows legal uncertainties, a senior official has
said.

H.M. Hatta Mustafa, a member of the People's Consultative
Assembly, said the law allows authorities of the central,
provincial and regency administrations to overlap.

The law, which aims at decentralizing government power, gives
more authority to the regencies. The government is working on
amending it on the grounds that the law gives to regencies too
much power that can be easily abused.

In the spirit of generating as much revenue as possible, as
the law requires, regencies tend to overexploit their resources
without heeding the provincial and central government, Hatta said
when addressing a meeting with village chiefs in Muara Enim
regency.

The government is expected to deliver the bill in the near
future. -- Antara