W

ithout much fanfare, the House of Representatives passed initiative bills on the formation of a North Kalimantan province and 18 regencies last week, while the media and the general public were staring at the tug of war that marked the legislative body’s debate of the election bill.

It was not the first time politicians at the House pushed for regional division, despite the government’s decision to suspend the creation of new administrative regions until the end of the year.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi has said the government would not succumb to the politicians’ pressure, as such regional division would only spoil the ongoing national electronic ID card program.

Simply put, the government does not consider regional division a priority. It had to find new reasoning for its reluctance to deliberate motions for the creation of new regions, which the politicians say are genuine aspirations from people whose right to public services have been denied as the bureaucracy network could not reach their remote villages.

Since the reformation-era began in 1998, delivery of public services and distribution of wealth has become the credo behind any “aspiration” for a new administrative region. Until 2011, Indonesia has seen 205 new provinces and regencies, bringing the number of provinces to 33 and regencies/municipalities to 491.

That figure would have climbed steeply had the government endorsed motions for the creation of 181 regions, excluding the 19 new proposals.

Regional autonomy has rendered the government tolerant to the spree of demands for new regions in the early years of reform, amid fears of regional discontent that endangered national unity following political turbulence. Only recently did the government take the bold move to temporarily stop deliberation of motions for regional divisions as people’s aspirations for separate regions were prone to manipulation from power-hungry local elites.

The latest government evaluation of 57 regencies formed within the last three years revealed that 70 percent of them failed to achieve financial independence to run the government and provide public services, let alone to alleviate poverty.

In the case of regional division, the existing law on regional autonomy requires the original region to “feed” the breakaway region for two years, which adds a heavy burden to the regional budget.

Politicians at the House know the pros, but appear to turn a blind eye to the cons of regional division under the mask of articulating local people’s aspirations.

It comes as no surprise that suspicion has been rife that corruption has been at play since the early phases of regional division, particularly to win endorsement from the House and government as the institutions authorized to form and dissolve administrative regions.

Early this year, Merauke Regent Romanus Mbaraka asked the team that had been mandated to prepare the formation of the South Papua province to file accountability report on the use of a Rp 28 billion (US$3 million) regional budget. The request followed the regent’s disappointment with the regional-division process that moved at a snail’s pace.

Bribery was reportedly more blatant in the North Sumatra legislative council’s support for formation of Tapanuli, Nias and Southeast Sumatra provinces last year. Local media reported that political parties holding seats in the provincial legislature received Rp 3.5 billion each for their endorsement of the division.

We can simply predict the sponsors of regional division will seek every avenue to reap returns, or at least get their money back, as soon as the new region materializes, which is why regional division is very much susceptible to the vicious circle of corruption.

Regardless of the fact that local elites have enthusiastically greeted the House’s approval of formation of 19 new regions last week, including the East Kalimantan poll commission that has allocated 35 seats for the future North Kalimantan legislative council, the government must once again block any move to create new regions, at least until a fairer rules of the game concerning regional division take effect.

The country needs a grand design of regional division, which should strictly define the requirements for the formation of new regions and the government’s authority to annul them and declare regional mergers, for the good of the people.