Moratorium on Formation of New Autonomous Regions Still in Place: Home Ministry

Home Affairs Ministry’s Information Center Head Bahtiar (Photo by: Home Affairs Ministry’s Archive)

The Government to date still imposes a moratorium on proposals for the formation of new autonomous region, Ministry of Home Affairs’ Head of Information Center Bahtiar has said.

Bahtiar made the statement in response to a plan to form Greater Bogor Province and planned merger of Bekasi region into special capital region of Jakarta.

According to Bahtiar, the Ministry since 2014 has received proposals to establish 315 new autonomous regions; yet, no follow-up has been made since the moratorium still applies. “Our task is to accommodate aspirations, but the moratorium is still in place,” Bahtiar said in Jakarta, Wednesday (21/8).

Bahtiar also stressed that as of now the Ministry has not yet received the aforementioned proposals. “We respect inputs to form a new province and the merge of region and we will conduct a further study and assessment. The extent of implementation requires government politics, including regulations,” said Bahtiar.

For the record, formation of regions including pemekaran wilayah (regional expansion) and the merge of regions are regulated in Law Number 23 of 2014 on Regional Government. (Puspen Kemendagri/ES)

Translated by: Muhardi

Edited by: M. Ersan Pamungkas