Political Reasons Don't Be The Reason For The Establishment Of A DOB

BRIN researcher Nyimas Latifah Letty Aziz asked the central government to ignore political reasons in considering the revocation of moratoriums and the formation of the New Autonomous Region or DOB despite proposals from various regions in Indonesia.

The proposal for a DOB must be carried out with an in-depth study. Do not for political reasons, because to form an autonomous region, it must fulfill complex feasibility. So be careful. Don't because of aspirations, but don't deserve to be given," he said, Sunday, December 15, 2024.

The proposal for the formation of the DOB was put forward by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Bima Arya Sugiarto, who revealed that his party accepted 337 proposals for the formation of a DOB. This number includes 42 provincial expansion proposals, 248 district expansions, 36 city expansions, six special regional expansions, and five special autonomy expansions.

Based on the provinces, the most proposals came from North Sumatra and Papua, with 23 proposals each, West Java with 21 proposals, and Maluku and Papua Mountains with a total of 19 proposals.

According to Letty, the proposed 337 DOBs disclosed by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs must be sorted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to avoid the autonomy spirit which as widely as possible makes the DOBs fail substantially and technically because they do not meet the requirements.

So far, we have noticed that the DOB has failed to prioritize national interests due to the emphasis of the bottom up process, which tends to be partial and prioritizes the interests of their respective regions. Therefore, the central government also needs to implement policies that are top down, taking into account crucial issues both faced by the national and local governments," he said.

He said that the proposal of 337 DOBs that enter the Ministry of Home Affairs must be technically selected, by involving the technical ministry, regarding the feasibility of sectoral potentials owned by prospective DOB candidates and their parent regions. He gave an example, the formation of a DOB must pay attention to factors in economic capacity and regional potential from the social-culture, politics, geography, bureaucracy, and population.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs should not use the assessment of DOB candidates from quantitative aspects because they are easily manipulated. In addition, the political feasibility assessment is carried out under the direction and supervision of DPOD (Regional Autonomy Advisory Board) by appointing certified institutions to carry out assessments through several stages," he explained.

"There also needs to be a certain time limit for regions that have just been marketed again to avoid two expansions in the near future, for example 10 years for provinces and 25 years for districts/cities," continued Letty.

He also emphasized that the central government must also look at the level of efficiency and effectiveness of government administration in the formation of the DOB. This is related to the parameters of regional arrangement to answer the real challenges. For example, formulating how the structuring strategy is able to encourage local government performance in providing public services, which in the end is to prosper the people and encourage local democracy.

In addition, the central government should not only prioritize expansion, but also regional mergers based on national strategic interests in the fields of politics, economy, population distribution, including the quality of human resources and security.

"The failure of the DOB so far is due to the weak capacity of government management, the readiness of human resources for government officials, legislature, the availability of facilities and infrastructure, governance, and the problems of coordination, coaching, and supervision," concluded Letty.