Riau people threaten to blockade oil fields

The Riau people are ready to blockade the operation of oil companies in the province if the central government refuses to increase the province's revenue portion from the oil commodity, the Harian Ekonomi Neraca newspaper reported in its Tuesday edition.

Riau Youth Committee (Koper) chairman Rusli Ahmad said on Monday in Pekanbaru the higher revenue was crucial to help finance the develoment of the province, which has been lagging behind other provinces.

Koper, which has 136 youth organizations, community, students, mosque youth organizations and the non-governmental organizations as its members, has demanded that Riau must get 70 percent of revenue from oil produced in the province, compared to the current 15 percent portion. (Under the 1999 fiscal decentralization law, the government gets 85 percent of the revenue from oil).

The demand for a change in the revenue portion from oil and gas commodities comes as the government and the House of Representatives are in the process of revising the fiscal decentralization law.

The Ministry of Finance, however, indicated last week that it would reject demand from oil producing regions for the higher revenue, while reports have said that the Ministry of International Affairs agreed to the demand.

“It looks like the central government has failed to fulfill our aspirations. That’s why, we are planning this action (blockade),” Rusli said in a statement. (*)