Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Indonesia's formula for decentralized administrative regions has again come under fire as indigenous people in Papuan and Kalimantan continue their demands for revocation of Indonesia's regional autonomy program, saying its policies had only compounded their suffering.
The highly touted decentralization scheme, colloquially known as pemekaran, has been the mainspring of money politics, corruption and horizontal conflicts, a number of representatives from the Kalimantan and Papuan archdioceses said.
Several members of the Justice and Peace Commission (KKP-PMP), a group organized under the Indonesian Communion of Churches (KWI) to advocate the indigenous rights for the people of Kalimantan and Papua, paid a visit to The Jakarta Post's office on Monday as a part of National Advocacy Week.
During the visit the group explained the conditions of indigenous people in Papua and Kalimantan, who are living side by side with companies accused of exploiting regional forests, rivers and other natural resources that were once the sole sources of their livelihoods.
After 10 years of implementation, the regional autonomy program has failed to bring promised development and prosperity to the indigenous people of Kalimantan, Tanjung Selor KKP-PMP office representative Maurinus Sodho Nuwa said.
"The regional leaders have no conception of the environment or appreciation for local wisdom. Co-optation has intensified and indigenous people have been neglected," he added.
The government and legislators at the House of Representatives have often argued that it was the locals in regions who demanded proliferation of new autonomous regions.
Saul Paulo Wanimbo from the Timika KKP-PMP office opposes this claim. The indigenous people of Papua "never cared about proliferation," he said, even though many of the newly designated autonomous regions are located in Papua and West Papua.
"Only local political elites will take issue if there are no more administrative divisions in Papua. To them, it would mean the loss of their sources of corruption. The locals are more worried about making ends meet," Saul told the Post.
Indonesia has 491 regencies and municipalities, of which only 10 percent can render effective public service, LIPI researcher Siti Zuhro told the Post in September.
A 2009 evaluation found that only nine regencies and two cities have demonstrated exceptional performances. Twenty provinces, 133 regencies and 42 cities posted good performances, while 10 provinces, 105 regencies and 23 cities were graded satisfactory, and three provinces, 54 regencies and 10 cities were evaluated as performing poorly.
Earlier this year, the Home Ministry and legislators agreed to halt the proliferation of new autonomous administrative regions. The ministry is currently re-designing the grand strategy for autonomy.