BACKGROUND ISSUES

The Implementation of Regional Autonomy according to Law No. 22/1999 (UU 22/1999) concerning local government has provided a new direction for managing decentralization. It has also entailed a complete overhaul of legal products that existed before it, specifically those that regulated regional autonomy. This study represents the first piece of research carried out by the Center for Local Government Innovation (CLGI), responding to the need to explore more deeply the legal issues that have arisen from the implementation of decentralization and regional autonomy which have been in operation since 1 January 2001.

In the first round of implementation, that is, 2001–03, decentralization and regional autonomy was put into effect in full by all areas in Indonesia. Even though regions which did not yet possess the ability to implement their autonomy in full were allowed to do this in stages in accordance with the ability they have (TAP No. IV/MPR/2000 on Policy Recommendations in the Implementation of Regional Autonomy, point 2c), not one region had postponed the implementation of decentralization and regional autonomy.

Among the various measures taken by the region, some were quite progressive and innovative, some were very cautious, and in other cases regional governments have taken steps that were ill-advised. Some local governments even tended to deviate from the intention of regional autonomy by issuing regulations in order to increase regional revenue, a move that has the effect of actually impeding economic growth nationally. As a result of observations in the field, it can be said that the root of all the problems that have arisen in the implementation of regional autonomy is the fact that the central government and the regional governments are not executing a number of obligations of a regulative and juridical nature in the context of adjusting their legal stipulations in keeping with the changes in the system, the implementation and the demands of new needs flowing from regional autonomy.