Robert Go, Jakarta – In a triumph over the central government, the Batam authorities have successfully lobbied Parliament to block Jakarta's efforts to take over the island's sea and airports.
Both Batam administrators and members of Parliament in the capital confirmed the decision during interviews with The Straits Times.
They argued that Batam's ports were best managed by local hands, and not by executives of allegedly corrupt and inefficient Jakarta-controlled firms.
"MPs doubted the ability of state-run firms to perform," said Mr Fathullah, who heads public relations at the Batam Industrial Development Authority (Bida). "Those who visited here saw no problem whatsoever with the way Bida has run these assets."
In Jakarta, Mr Akhmad Muqowam, a member of Parliament's commission on transportation matters, agreed. "When we considered the competence factor, state-run firms Pelindo II and Angkasa Pura I simply do not inspire enough confidence," he said.
He also said Jakarta's takeover attempt was a move that could have violated the country's regional-autonomy regulations, which gave more powers to regions to manage their own political and economic affairs.
But the tussle, first reported in The Straits Times last month, is not fully resolved yet. MPs indicated that Bida might have to accept some form of joint operations with Jakarta in the future.
Analysts have pegged the case as yet another example of the ambiguity of Indonesia's decentralisation laws, which open up avenues for politicking and corruption. The laws granted regions more economic and political powers beginning last year.
Parliament's decision to allow Batam to manage its ports is not without reason. Bida has managed to make the small island, barely 20 km away from Singapore, into a key investment destination in problem-ridden Indonesia. Its administrators hope that it would be home to more than 800 foreign firms by 2005.
Bida officials also maintained that Batam's ports could attract more investors and become major export centres for Indonesian companies, which now use Singapore's port for their cargoes extensively.
The Batu Ampar Seaport is now being floated as a potential alternative to Singapore. Bida is preparing a scheme to increase its cargo-handling capacity by threefold to 500,000 tonnes per year.
Free-Trade-Zone status, which Batam has lobbied aggressively for, could become a reality soon, making the island and its ports more attractive to foreign investors.
Mr Fathullah said: "We are open to working together with Jakarta, but our own programme for these ports is sufficiently comprehensive and could help the country's economy."
Meanwhile, both local officials and legislators denied that the decision to keep the ports in Bida's hands took place after "non-transparent" closed-door discussions.
But a business consultant who specialises in decentralisation issues said: "What is clear now is that the way to get things done remains approaching the right people and 'persuading' them. Indonesia's laws failed to establish black-and-white rulings on disputes, and therefore encourage these kinds of lobbying and potentially undemocratic practices."