Commission II Of The House Of Representatives Questions Solo City's Proposal To Become A DIS: What's The Privilege?

DPR-MPR Building. (Dino Januarsa-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission II DPR RI Ahmad Irawan highlighted the proposal of the City of Solo or Surakarta to become the Special Region of Surakarta (DIS). According to him, the proposal still has to be studied in depth, especially regarding what are the privileges of the City of Solo or Surakarta.

According to Ahmad Irawan, an area with its specialities and privileges cannot be separated from two factors, namely history and culture.

"Indeed, when it comes to special areas and special areas, it cannot be separated from historical aspects, cultural aspects. Two are the weight, history and culture. That's why we know constitutionally special areas and special areas," said Ahmad Irwan, Monday, April 28.

"Special areas such as DI Yogyakarta, Aceh, special areas such as DK (Special Areas) Jakarta," he continued.

As is known, the proposal of the City of Solo to become a Special Region emerged from a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) during a meeting with Commission II of the DPR on Thursday, April 24.

The Director General of Regional Autonomy of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Akmal Malik, said that until April 2025, there were 341 proposals submitted to the Directorate General of Regional Autonomy. Consisting of 42 proposals for the formation of provinces, 6 regions submitted special regional status, and 5 regions asked to be specifically.

However, in fact, the proposal for Solo to become a Special Region such as Yogyakarta turned out to come from the Surakarta Palace. Pengageng Sasana Wilapa Keraton Surakarta Hadiningrat, KPA.H Dany Nur Adiningrat, said that the proposal to form the Special Region of Solo was to fight for the rights of the Solo Palace and Mangkunegaran.

Ahmad Irawan said that the constitution does respect and recognize regions with special and special regional status as stipulated in Article 18B of the 1945 Constitution, which reads "The state recognizes and respects regional government units that are special or special in nature regulated by law".

"That includes the law that lives in the area known as living law. So then if an area wants to be said to be a special area or a special area then the initial format of the question is right, is he a special or special one?" he said.

"The area is divided into district, city provinces, right. So Solo wants it as a province, district or city?" added Irawan.

If you hear the Ministry of Home Affairs' proposal, he added, Solo City wants its area to become a province by separating itself from Central Java. Therefore, Irawan assessed that there needs to be a comprehensive study regarding the proposal of Solo City to become a Province with the status of a Special Region.

"But I heard from the Ministry of Home Affairs that the proposal was to separate from Central Java and as the province itself. So it's not the city like now. Surakarta Province or Solo Province is like that," said the legislator from the East Java V electoral district.

"Well, if you look at the regencies/cities, there are also special ones like Batam. So yes, we really have to study the academic text of the expansion. If he asks for a privilege, we have to see first what the privileges are in? " added Irawan.

Furthermore, a member of the Commission in the DPR in charge of regional autonomy affairs explained that one region is said to have a special location and is due to several things. For example, explained Irawan, such as DI Yogyakarta, which is privileged to lie with its regional head who does not need to carry out the Pilkada process.

"It's the Sultan (regional head) right. Sultan Yogya, he just extended (his term of office). Well, Jakarta, especially areas at the district/city level, don't need to go through the Pilkada process. Now that's specificity or privilege. What does that mean? " he explained.

"That's in the context of politics, the economy, culture or what we don't understand yet. Because that's just a kind or proposal for regional expansion, we don't know about the specificities and privileges in question," continued Ahmad Irawan.

So according to Irawan, it still has to be resolved again regarding Solo's proposal to become the Special Region of Surakarta. Including the authority, whether in terms of investment, culture or others.

"So yes, we have to learn first, we study the revised script, the specialities and privileges are part of what. Is it special as a cultural city or what?" he said.

"We have to ask for the consideration of all stakeholders and then compete and discuss the proposal. Next, we ask for political considerations whether it is appropriate (to become a special area)," he said.