Examining The Urgency Of Solo City Proposed To Be A Special Region

JAKARTA The city of Solo is in the spotlight. The proposal to make Solo a special area is said to be related to the interests of former President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

Apart from being Jokowi's retirement city, which makes his house often visited by people, even recently a number of ministers also came to visit. The public also highlighted that this city is included in the list of new autonomous areas as special areas.

According to information, the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed a number of regions that want special status. There are six regions that propose their territory to be a special area.

So far, the most widely heard areas are Solo Raya, which consists of one epicenter city, Surakarta, and six surrounding districts: Boyolali, Karanganyar, Sragen, Sukoharjo, and Wonogiri.

Apart from Solo in Central Java, there are six provinces that want special regional status, namely West Java, West Sumatra, Riau, and two proposals from Southeast Sulawesi.

The proposal for Solo City to become a special area was made by Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the DPR Aria Bima. According to the PDIP politician, Solo City is one of six regions that has asked for special status.

"Like my area, Solo asked for a expansion from Central Java and became the Special Region of Surakarta," said Bima after a working meeting of the DPR government commission with the Ministry of Home Affairs.

However, the proposal for the City of Solo to become a special area has drawn controversy. Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah even considered the idea to be closely related to Jokowi's interests.

Article 18B paragraph 1 of the 1945 Constitution states that the state recognizes a regional government unit that has special and special status. The article states, "The state recognizes and respects regional government units that are special or special in nature as regulated by law."

Currently, Indonesia has two special provinces. First, the Special Region of Yogyakarta which is regulated through Law Number 13 of 2012 concerning the Privileges of the Special Region of Yogyakarta.

Among the privileges of this city is related to the procedure for filling the positions of governor and deputy governor. Unlike other regions whose governors are elected through regional head elections, for Yogyakarta it is proposed by the sultanate or kadipaten.

Yogyakarta also has privileges in terms of institutional, spatial, land and cultural authority.

Apart from Yogyakarta, there is the Province of Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam which has a special status. Particularity is regulated through Law Number 11 of 2006 concerning the Government of Aceh.

The law states that Aceh is special and has special authority to regulate and take care of its own government affairs. The form of Aceh's privilege is in the administration of a government that is guided by the Islamic principle or Qanun Aceh.

IPO Director Dedi Kurnia Syah views that the proposal for the City of Solo to become a special area is irrelevant, because as a unitary country it is time for Indonesia to return to its single concept.

According to him, areas that are now special should need to be evaluated. Because politically what is needed now is total regional autonomy or decentralization.

"If there are crucial things like cultural history, then it is enough that culture is privileged, not politically and governmently," said Dedi to VOI.

Dedi added that the proposed special status for Surakarta was excessive and had the potential to be unproductive. He considers this proposal only a discourse on power, not about equitable development.

"Even this kind of discourse could lead to a sparatism attitude in other areas or areas of the former kingdom in the past," he said.

"It should be suspected that this proposal is in the interests of a few parties, especially in the area of Jokowi's family, which can be interpreted as part of an effort to politically seize the power of Jokowi's family," added Dedi.

The point, said Dedi, is that the proposal is not needed for this country, it can become a burden and social inequality.

Meanwhile, constitutional law lecturer Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Yance Arizona has other views. The idea of forming a new special area, according to Yance, was due to the failure of regional autonomy.

Currently, the central government tends to be centralistic, even though all regions should have the flexibility to regulate themselves.

"A special regional idea arises as a resistance to centralization of the central government because existing regulations are unable to provide flexibility to the regions to regulate themselves," he said.

According to Yance, regional autonomy has not been able to accommodate the peculiarities and characteristics of each region so that a number of regions apply for special status.

Because by becoming special, the area has a legal umbrella that can accommodate the uniqueness of the region. Thus, they have different flexibility from other regions.

Profits to become special and special areas will depend on each other's needs. For example, said Yance, if Bali has a special status, there is a possibility that different immigration regulations will emerge that are applied there because Bali has many tourist destinations visited by foreign tourists.

"So there are many arguments made in the regions according to needs, including Solo later," said Yance again.