Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesians on Borneo island voted in landmark elections on Wednesday, choosing local leaders for the first time in a process that symbolises the final devolution of authority from the once all-powerful central government.
Residents in the Kutai Kartanegara regency of East Kalimantan province are the first to vote in a series of local elections that will also complete the transition to democracy in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Leaders in one-third of Indonesia's 33 provinces and half of its 400 regencies, or districts, will be elected this year. Around 80 percent of those elections will be held in June alone.
Elections in the remaining provinces and regencies will take place from 2006, although no dates have been set. Indonesia held its first direct presidential poll last year.
"This is a milestone that allows the people in Kutai Kartanegara to freely choose their leaders. We now can act without being hassled anymore by the central government," said Ishack Iskandar, head of the regency's election commission.
"If this country wants to progress, it has to let people in the regions choose their own path as long as we stay in the unitary state framework," he told Reuters from the region's main town of Tenggarong, 1,250 km northeast of Jakarta.
About 376,000 voters were eligible to elect the Kutai Kartanegara regent and a deputy. Up for grabs is one of Indonesia's richest regencies, thanks to abundant reserves of oil, coal and timber on Indonesia's side of Borneo island. Results will be known within days.
Under former autocrat Suharto, who ruled for 32 years until 1998, local officials took their orders from Jakarta, which closely vetted the appointment of provincial and district leaders. Candidates, chosen by local parliaments, were often active soldiers or figures with links to Jakarta.
After Suharto's downfall, local leaders clamoured for more authority and a share of income from natural resources that had previously gone to Jakarta. Analysts also said power needed to be devolved to reduce the separatist tensions in the resource-rich provinces of Aceh and Papua.
In 1999 and 2000, the central government drew up regional autonomy laws that transferred a greater share of revenue and allowed local governments to make many of their own laws. Some foreign investors have complained this has led to the introduction of confusing regulations that impede their business.
Icing on the cake
But Muhammad Qodari, research director at the Indonesian Survey Institute, said the local elections should improve governance by making elected local leaders accountable.
"Whoever gets elected in these regional elections will act more carefully because they know they may get booted out when voters think they have failed to deliver," Qodari said.
"Politically, Jakarta's clout has weakened in the regions since regional autonomy began. If regional autonomy is a cake, the polls are its icing and cherry." Iskandar said graft fears were "a phobia from Jakarta".
One of the most closely watched local polls will be on June 30 in the Poso regency of eastern Sulawesi island, where blasts blamed on Islamic militants killed 22 people last Saturday.
Clashes between Muslims and Christians from 1999-2001 killed 2,000 people there until a peace deal was agreed in an area where roughly equal numbers follow each religion.
Underscoring the desire for peace, the five pairs of candidates vying for the job of Poso regent and its deputy each comprise a Muslim and a Christian. Campaigning will begin within two weeks.
(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia)