Regional Independent Autonomy
Problems
Indonesia has roughly 300
ethnic groups. Since it gained its independence, Indonesia's national policy
has been "unity in diversity." Previous governments maintained this
by using strong-arm tactics. However, the democratization and liberalization of
political movements undertaken by the present government have activated
movements for ethnic self-government in the regions.
The East Timor and Aceh
regions have been particularly problematic. These regions have had problems
since the country was unified. Negotiations on the East Timor problem started
at the UN shortly after the Habibie government came to power. In March 1999,
the parties involved agreed to allow the residents to decide by direct ballot
whether to have self-government or independence. However, because there is
deep-rooted hostility between those for and those against independence, there
are fears that the direct ballot or independence could lead to a worsening of
the strife.
In addition to the ethnic
and religious problems, the problem of distribution of wealth, or in other
words exploitation by the central government, is behind the regional separatist
movements. Under the present system, the central government collects income
from each of the regions and redistributes it to them. States that have an
abundance of natural resources such as oil and timber feel that they are being
exploited by the central government. They also feel that the development of
these resources is being monopolized by investors with strong ties to the
central government.
Suppressing the separatist
and autonomy movements by force would be difficult, so the government has
little choice but to cope with them by expanding regional autonomy. A special
session of the People's Assembly called to address this problem approved the
advancement of regional decentralization, and a regional autonomy bill that
would expand regional autonomy and provide a fair distribution of wealth is
being considered by the House of Representatives. In addition, a draft of the
Oil and Gas Law that would revise the distribution of oil and gas revenues
between the regions and the central government is also being considered.
Retrieved from http://www.jri.co.jp/english/periodical/economic/AERe199902indonesia/
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VOCABULARIES
LIST
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Regional: kedaerahan
Ethnic: kesukuan,suku bangsa
Tactics: siasat, cara
Region: daerah, wilayah
Strife: berusaha,bekerja keras
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Wealth: kekayaan
Timber: kayu
Resource: sumber penghasilan
Separatist: memisahkan diri
Advancement: kemajuan
|
Reading
Answer the
essay question below
1.
How
many ethnics that Indonesia has?
2.
What
tactic was the previous government used?
3.
When
was the parties agreed to decided their self government/independence?
4.
What is the additional problem faced by ethnic
and religion? Mention it.