Bontang parliament complaints about oil, gas revenue

Speaker of the Bontang regency House of Representatives in East Kalimantan Rusdin Abdau plans to go to Jakarta to complaint about the relatively small oil and gas revenue allocated to the region this year.

Rusdin was quoted as saying by the local Kaltim Post daily that Bontang was rich with oil and gas resources, but its revenue was relatively smaller compared to those enjoyed by neighboring regencies East Kutai and Kutai Kertanegara.

"We're now investigating the facts. If there's a miscalculation, we're ready to camp in Jakarta to fight for the greater allocation of oil and gas revenue. If necessary we'll go (to Jakarta) in large crowd," he said.

The government launched earlier this year the regional autonomy law including a revenue sharing mechanism between the central government in Jakarta and regional government on natural resources. Under the revenue sharing mechanism, the regional government obtains 15 percent of the revenue from its oil resource, and 30 percent from its gas resource.(*)