Arientha Primanita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite a new promise from the home affairs minister to send a long-delayed bill on village governance to the legislature, village chiefs refused to end their sit-in protest until the president signed a mandate needed before a bill can be deliberated.
The bill is meant to regulate the system of villages nationwide and ensure "local community development" for each village. The legislation is also meant to boost welfare at the village level by ensuring that locally generated revenue goes back toward developing the community.
The purpose is to stem the flow of urbanization by improving living and economic conditions in villages and rural areas, thereby fostering more equitable economic development across the country.
Hundreds of members of the Nusantara Village People's Association (Parade Nusantara), who began protesting on Monday at the House of Representatives, have vowed to stay put for at least a week in an attempt to force the government to prioritize the bill.
They appealed to lawmakers on Monday to let them use one of the rooms in the legislative complex as they had no money for a hotel, but they ended up spending the night in front of the House building, sleeping on makeshift mats and newspapers. They resumed their protest on Tuesday.
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, speaking before a limited cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said the bill had been finalized at the cabinet level. "This week, I will ask the president to issue a mandate [Ampres]," he said, adding that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had agreed to it "in principle."
An Ampres is needed to formally submit the bill to the House. "Hopefully it is signed quickly and then we can send it to the House," he added.
Village chiefs are also pushing for the swift passage of the bill to give them civil servant status. Currently, only village secretaries are recognized as civil servants, which entitles them to benefits such as a pension.
However, village chiefs and officials other than secretaries receive a monthly stipend from regional budgets, which varies region by region. Most of those payments are well below the local minimum wage, and in most locations the stipends provided are only paid every three months.
Sudir Santoso, the chairman of Parade Nusantara, said association members no longer believed the government's promises.
"I do not believe even 5 percent of what Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi says. He's said this several times, but he's not consistent," he said. "The president is the same."
Sudir said his group would stay in Jakarta to keep pushing for the bill. "We will not go home until we have seen a copy of the Ampres, or there is confirmation from the House Legislative Body that the draft bill has reached the House of Representatives."