Can Council improve autonomy?

(News Terupdate) - A boon or a bane: regional autonomy has unleashed both opportunities and frustration for investors, leaders and the wider public supposed to benefit from what has been cited as one of the world’s largest political experiments.

Aimed at improving public services, it has instead led to reports of a wide range of new levies and areas remaining poor or becoming poorer after officially separating from their former province or regency. Sharia-based bylaws have also raised outcry among human rights activists.

Exercising its limited legislative power, the Regional Representatives Council has prepared 53 bills and inserted them in the national legislative program.

They were approved in November to be deliberated with the House of Representatives over the next five years, with the aim of strengthening regional autonomy.

Of 53 bills, nine will be deliberated with the House and the government this year. They include those on village autonomy, bureaucracy reform and merger of autonomous regions and the planned revision to the 2004 regional administration law, 2004 fiscal balance law and 2006 natural resources law.

The chairman of the Council’s newly established legislative committee (PPUU), I Wayan Sudirta, said the Council has prioritized revising the 2004 regional administration law by developing it into at least four laws.

The regional administration law, which he said failed to strengthen the regions, would be broken down into laws on regional administration, local elections, the establishment and merger of new regions and village autonomy.

“[This would] minimize problems triggered by regional autonomy,” Sudirta said.

All regional heads would remain elected but campaign funds would be limited to allow only “dedicated and progressive” candidates to win local elections, he said.

The bill on the establishment and merger of new regions stipulates measurable criteria on setting up new areas.

Only regions with economic potential to improve public welfare will be allowed to form new provinces, regencies and municipalities. It also makes measurable parameters in evaluating new regions.

“Areas that fail in regional autonomy will be merged with their parent provinces, regencies and municipalities,” Sudirta said.

The Council also proposed the bill on village autonomy because according to the national consensus and the 1999 Regional Autonomy Law, the decentralization program should reach villages, which have their own customs and administration, such as the nagari of West Sumatra and the banjar of Bali.

Despite the limited legislative powers granted by the Constitution, the previous law on representative bodies did not allow the Council to take part in the lawmaking process.

Sudirta hailed the first-ever joint meeting late last year between the Council and the House of Representatives to design the national legislation program as a maiden chance for the two institutions to cooperate closely.

“The House has been under fire for its poor performance because only 58 percent of bills deliberated and included in the national legislation program were passed, several were dropped because of the different political stance between the House and the government and the rest were untouched because the government submitted many bills not included in the national program,” he said.

Council Chairman Irman Gusman said that despite its limited legislative power, the Council would take an active and serious role when deliberating bills to create a check-and-balance mechanism between the two institution and strengthen the bicameral system in parliament.

“All input and reports from regional representatives from their own electoral districts are expected to enrich the Council’s political stance and the substance of the bills during their deliberation,” he said.

For many voters though, the Council is still mystery. In the last election, villagers in Tangerang urged neighbors to vote for a handsome green politician, “because he’s in one of those sinetron [TV drama]!”

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