Gov prepares mining presidential decree to anticipate regional autonomy

The government is currently preparing a presidential decree on mining to support the implementation of regional autonomy that would come into force starting Jan. 1, 2001. The decree would be in effect until a new mining law is passed.

The chairman of the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA), BN Wahju, said that currently the mining presidential decree was already processed by the State Secretariat to be reviewed and later be signed by President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The decree would bridge the gap between Law No. 11/1967 on mining and Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy.

"The spirit of Law No. 11/1967 is still centralist, and therefore, we need a bridge with the regional autonomy law until we have a new law on mining," Wahju said.

Wahju noted that the presidential decree would still use Law No. 11/1967 as its legal basis, and therefore it would still use the same terms with those used in the law such as contract of works (COW). The COW in the new mining bill is renamed with mining business contracts.

But the spirit of the new decree would be in support of regional autonomy, and therefore, the decree would clearly divine what would become the responsibility and authority of the central government and also those of local administrations.

"But in line with agreements, the transfer of authority in the mining sector will be pursued gradually in five years," he said, without clarifying what agreements he meant.

Nevertheless, if a local administration is ready to assume responsibility and authority in one or two years time, the central government will likely transfer all the authority in the mining sector to that particular administration.

Wahju said that a number of authorities that would be handed over to local administrations in the first place include inspections on safety measures and also on financial situation of mining companies in their respective areas. (*)