Yogya hosts international conference

Yogya hosts international conference

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

A three-day international conference on decentralization
opened on Thursday in Yogyakarta, discussing Indonesia's
experience in delegating power to the regions following three
decades of authoritarian rule.

Over 20 experts from Indonesia, the Netherlands, Sweden and
Japan are attending the conference.

The experts discussed, among other issues, how resource-rich
and poor regions implemented the autonomy laws, said P.M.
Laksono, who heads the Department of Social and Cultural Studies
at Gadjah Mada University's Center for Asia and Pacific Studies.

Indonesia implemented regional autonomy in 2001 to quench
separatist demands that resulted from former president Soeharto's
ironfisted rule over the sprawling archipelago.

The autonomy laws give provinces, regencies and mayoralties
more authority to manage their political and economic affairs.

Laksono said the conference also compared the autonomy process
in different countries and discussed how decentralization was
related to corruption.

The conference is the result of a cooperation between Gadjah
Mada University and the School of Social Sciences at Leiden
University in the Netherlands.