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Central govt plants its claws in local leaders through Pemda bill
Due to abuses of power found within regional governments, the central government is planning to pull regional leaders back under its control through a revision of a 2004 law on regional authorities
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D
ue to abuses of power found within regional governments, the central government is planning to pull regional leaders back under its control through a revision of a 2004 law on regional authorities.
The revision aims to grant powers to the central government to severely punish local leaders who fail in their efforts to set up efficient bureaucracies.
'The current implementation of regional autonomy is excessive,' the Home Ministry's Director General of Regional Autonomy, Djohermansyah Djohan, said during a discussion in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
'We want to improve the relations between local leaders. Regional leaders, such as regents or mayors, think that they are infinitely free [to act], which apparently encourages them to turn into little kings,' he added.
Djohermansyah cited, as among the common 'misleading' practices of local leaders, several incidents of regions that were abandoned by their leaders during natural disasters, which confused disaster relief efforts run by the central government.
He additionally mentioned the practice of newly elected regents abusing their powers by illegally recruiting relatives or members of their campaign teams to become staffers in their administrations.
'Newly elected regents arbitrarily appointed as new support staff people who were from their campaign teams. This wasted the local budget,' Djohermansyah emphasized.
In an attempt to ensure local leaders carry out their duties professionally, the revision bill, which has been under deliberation in the House for around three years, would impose a minimum one-year prison sentence on local leaders who illegally recruit staffers.
The bill will also allow for the dismissal of local leaders who leave their territories without the consent of the provincial administrations.
The draft prohibits local administration leaders from making policies that harm the public interest, create public concern or discriminate against people, from sitting as political party leaders, from conducting working visits abroad without a minister's consent, from being absent from duty or leave their regions for more than seven days without the consent of their superiors (for example, a minister or a governor) and from engaging in misconduct.
- Central government wants power to punish misbehaving local leaders
- Some regional leaders think they can 'turn into little kings'
- Misconduct and being absent without leave could lead to dismissal
The revision bill is one of the three regulations on regional autonomy that are being discussed at the House's Commission II overseeing regional administrations.
The packet also includes a newly passed law on villages and a controversial bill on regional elections.
On Wednesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also arranged a limited Cabinet meeting to specifically address the amendments of the law on regional autonomy.
'Many opportunities have been lost, particularly relating to economic development and investment due to non-conducive management of local administration,' Yudhoyono said in his opening speech during the meeting at the Presidential Palace.
Yudhoyono said further that the revisions were necessary to draw a clear line between the tasks of the central government and those of the local administrations, since he found that people often did not realize there were distortions and deviations of the spirit of the unitary state of Indonesia.
Shortly after the meeting, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi told reporters that the draft would give authority to the central government, including the president and the home minister, to permanently or temporarily dismiss governors, mayors and regents who violate the law and misbehave.
'There are new many penalties being introduced in the draft, including administrative penalties, orders to undergo a training program on governance, as well as dismissal,' Gamawan said. 'The Constitution stipulates that a president holds the power in terms of governance.'
