National Seminar: Resetting Decentralization in Indonesia

Important breakthrough has been made by the issuance of Law No. 22/1999 and Law No. 32/2004 as new stage of implementation of decentralization and regional autonomy in Indonesia. Design of decentralization and regional autonomy has given positive contribution to Indonesian political, economic, social and cultural development.
 
Facts in many regions showed how decentralization and regional autonomy have given room for regional governments to make innovations in better public service for the community. Yogyakarta, Blitar, Gowa Regency, Gorontalo, Solok Regency and several other regencies/cities understand what people need. Here,  optimism for decentralization and regional autonomy can be put in.

However, these Laws still leave many problems. The discussion in Graduate program, Political Science Department of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada during 2008-2009, depicted unclear authority division among central, province, and regency/city governments. The impact is that players make different interpretation about which belongs to central, province, and regencies/cities governments. This often causes an overlap between different levels of authority (central government and regional government, province and regency/city governments).

Those were several ideas emerging in the “National Seminar: Resetting Indonesian Decentralization from Regional Perspective” which took place at UGM University Club, Monday (25/1). Held by Graduate Program, Political Sciences Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UGM, it was expected to give input substantively to the central government and House of Representatives who are revising Law No. 32 year 2004.

Drs. Cornelis Lay, M.A., one of the speakers, hoped that implementation of asymmetric decentralization will change fundamentally relationship pattern of authority, finance and supervision between central and regional governments. Based on experiences in many countries, such as Finland with its extreme implementation of asymmetric pattern, this pattern has widened regional authority for particular issues such as culture, language, special nationality, etc. It also includes flexibility in finance when regional governments (Lands Islands ) can determine their own annual budget and tax withdrawal.
 
In a paper entitled “Asymmetric Decentralization for Indonesia”, Cornelis Lay gave model example of capacity development of local economy in Kunshan. He showed how asymmetric design emerged as a response to regional economic development. Formation of institutional transformation in national and local levels is very needed to give authority certainty for regional governments to be more progressive, including their technocratic implications.

Cornelis Lay concluded that experiences in many countries ensure that institutional design in local level can no longer rely on “single traditional habit” with administrative limit as the only limit;  it has shifted to “regional” arrangement that follows systemic logic and various basic variations.

The seminar supported by DRSP-USAID and CSO Forum also presented speakers Gabe Ferazzi (author of Stock Taking Study Update 2009, DRSP), Prof. Dr. Ryaas Rasyid, Proyatno Harsasto (Diponegoro University), Dr. Eddy Purnama (Syah Kuala University Aceh), Drs. Sidik R. Usop, M.S. (Palangkaraya University), Bambang Sugiono, S.H., M.H. (Cendrawasih University, Papua), and Dr. Kausar Bailussy (Hasanuddin University, Makassar). Also attending in the seminar were UGM Rector, Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi, M.Eng., Ph.D., who opened the seminar, and Director General of Regional Autonomy, Dr. Sodjuangon Situmorang as keynote speaker representing Minister of Domestic Affairs.