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New region created every two weeks, minister says
The formation of new regions in Indonesia is growing at an alarming rate, with a new region created every 15 days, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Wednesday
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he formation of new regions in Indonesia is growing at an alarming rate, with a new region created every 15 days, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Wednesday.
He said 225 new autonomous regions had been established in the past eight years and there were currently 50 others waiting to have the House of Representatives approve their formation.
“This has led some to suggest that proposing a new region should not be the sole authority of regions, as implied in the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law,” Gamawan said.
“It is been proposed that the central administration should also have the authority.”
Before the reform era and the enactment of regional autonomy laws, there were only 27 provinces and 293 regencies and municipalities across the country.
Presently, Gamawan said, the figure has risen to 33 provinces and 524 regions.
He added that the uncontrolled formation of new regions disrupted the real aim of the regional autonomy policy, namely to improve regions’ competitiveness, economy and welfare of the people.
Gamawan said the government planned to break the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law and into three
different laws: the regional administration law, the regional head election law and the rural administration law.
The move is part of an attempt to control the formation of new regions.
“We will redesign regional management, which will discuss, among others, how many provinces Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java and Papua should each have and how to achieve that goal.
“There is also the aspect of whether new regions should be given autonomy immediately,” he said.
Gamawan was speaking before hundreds of central government and local administration officials, including the country’s governors, mayors and regents, at the opening of the 2010 National Development Planning Conference (Musrenbangnas).
The conference, which will run four days, was opened Wednesday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Organized by the National Development Planning Agency, the meeting is aimed at discussing the government’s plans for 2011.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who addressed the event, said figuring budgets for new regions was a “headache”.
“Budgets for these ‘newborn babies’ are usually still attached to their respective regions in early on. The next year the budget is separated, but this often sparks disputes regarding budget allocations,” Mulyani said.
In his opening speech, Yudho-yono reminded regional leaders of their duties and obligations.
He told them to do their own job instead of delegating it to subordinates, to not to run away from their responsibilities, to go to the grassroots and meet the people instead of isolating themselves in their offices, and to go “all out” in performing their duties.
