Committed to Regional Autonomy

Activist Robert Endi Jaweng sees the fall of the New Order regime following the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis as a blessing in disguise to initiate better state governance.


“Without the crisis, it would be hard to imagine our political transition, and even more difficult to visualize the change from very powerful centralistic autocracy in the New Order period to decentralized democracy today,” said Endi, the executive director of the Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD).


Therefore, Endi, who has a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Indonesia, considers it misleading to consider reverting to centralization simply because the application of autonomy has failed in several regions. Instead of eliminating regional autonomy, the government’s paradigm and sincerity in handling it need improvement.


Born in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, on Nov. 17, 1976, Endi says the present challenge is how to instill a positive spirit in regional autonomy. Decentralization constitutes an opportunity to reverse the old paradigm of development from state domination to citizens’ involvement and private partnerships.


“This is the right time to build Indonesia from the regions, even if it has to be built region by region. The era of Indonesia building regions, of Jakarta being the center of allocation of all resources, should end with a reversal,” stressed the 37-year-old.


The KPPOD is supposed to serve as a bridge linking the central government and regional administrations while at the same time connecting actors of the state, the private sector and civil society. “The KPPOD is a new experimentation in the development of the private sector that involves these roles,” he indicated.


Endi considers regional autonomy highly relevant to a country as large as Indonesia, as long as regions are building Indonesia and opportunities are open to citizen participation and private partnerships, because it’s the only policy experimentation in which the people determine its success, although it’s not always easy to realize.


The application of autonomy, as noted by Endi, has mostly involved such things as discourses by the elites on regional elections and regional divisions, rather than substantive public agendas.


Autonomy has remained in transition steeped in interests on the part of the elites and has not unified the country, leaving the people watching like spectators.


Endi, also a graduate of Yogyakarta’s Gajah Mada University, attributes the autonomy failures in some regions to what he calls commitment and capacity deficits. He said Jakarta elites were obviously not convinced of decentralization as an alternative route to building the country on a regional basis.


“Despite the era of decentralization, the spirit and style of central government policies have remained centralistic. Policies are frequently adopted without consultation with regions [like the cash handouts to compensate for fuel price increases and the procurement of cheap cars],” Endi pointed out.


On the other hand, regions don’t fully trust in the sincerity of the central government either, frequently responding to government polices with reluctance or even disobedience, thus resulting in mutual distrust.


In Endi’s view, the government elites are not ready for autonomy. “In terms of management capacity, they aren’t geared for it but are overeager to seek power and financial gain,” he said.


It is also dangerous to have money and power flowing fast to regions if the regional elites make no visionary policies for the welfare of their populations.


Meanwhile, the public at large is not quite prepared due to the lack of education to improve citizens’ mentality so they can productively give substance to regional autonomy. In reality, people can be bought off in regional elections and mobilized in regional division disputes. “But the elite and intellectual circles should be held responsible for not educating common people to become autonomous citizens,” he added.


Regarding the amount of confusion in this era of autonomy, Endi suggested the building of a strong system of internal integrity to ensure accountable financial and administrative management. “Our problem of decentralization involves the transfer of funds and administration without building a strong system of integrity to prevent corruption,” he explained.


Apart from that, the general public is not sufficiently politically aware so that corruption cases have not led to public involvement in controlling financial and administrative governance for the prevention of mismanagement.


“We’re at the point of no return,” he affirmed, emphasizing that any problematic autonomy should primarily be dealt with by correcting the behavior, commitment and capacity of the relevant elite group.


Endi, who took a regional economics course in Berlin, Germany, and the KPPOD have over the last two years developed a strategy to apply pressure from the outside and assistance from the inside.


The KPPOD cooperates with the Regional Autonomy Working Group, which represents civil society in the process of autonomous law making. In the regions, the KPPOD is developing an accountable system of administration and supporting regional development based on local advantages.


For instance, the KPPOD cooperates with Sikka regency in East Nusa Tenggara and Majene regency in West Sulawesi to promote the production of cacao as a prized commodity. “We train regency officials and councilors in making policies that support cacao development,” he said.


The KPPOD is also involved in the advocacy of a regional regulation on one-stop services as an important part of economic licensing bureaucratic reform in the province of Jakarta.


“Decentralization is my way of contributing and proving my commitment to the agenda of national reform declared 15 years ago on the road in Yogyakarta,” said the ex-student activist.

--- (The Jakarta Post - Friday, 3 January 2014 - People)---