M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Despite its adverse impact in stoking tribalism, regional autonomy is an irreversible process and the central government must not attempt to abrogate it, analysts say.
Gadjah Mada University senior lecturer on regional autonomy Pratikno and executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) Hadar Nafiz Gumay said Thursday that regional autonomy promised better governance for regions in the sprawling archipelago.
"Indonesia is too big a country to be ruled by a centralistic method, and regional autonomy is one among many methods that can produce effective governance," Pratikno told The Jakarta Post. Hadar said efforts to reverse decentralization would spur opposition from those who reaped its benefits.
The analysts commented on the findings of a survey by the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yapikka), which found implementation of regional autonomy had given rise to heightened ethnocentrism and tribalism.
The survey recommended the revival of the oversight role once performed by the provincial government to mitigate the negative ramifications of ceding more power to regencies.
But such recommendations inevitably lead to fears of a return to the centralized government of the New Order from 1966-98, when provincial governments acted as political surrogates to control the people.
However, the analysts believed that returning the oversight role to the provincial government would not imperil decentralization.
"Who said that the central government had no control over local governments in the regional autonomy era? The power is still there for the central government to ensure that public services are being delivered," Pratikno said, adding that regional autonomy was not synonymous with federalism, which was tantamount to giving free reign to local governments.
He added that because the central government would likely have problems supervising all regencies, it could seek help from provincial administrations.
"A regency should not be left by itself in implementing the regional autonomy because then it would only strive for its individual interests," Pratikno said.
Commenting on resurgent tribalism, Hadar termed it a "bitter pill" experienced on the path to a mature democracy. "We are still in that stage now, and we have to face the reality that ethnicity, religions and territorial attachment are the common denominator that easily bonds our people," Hadar told the Post.
He said that despite the objectionable nature of ethnocentrism, the government should not make stringent regulations that would curb expressions of ethnicity. "It will be harmful for the democracy in the long run," he said.