Berikut ini saya lampirkan artikel dari PETROMIN (Asia's Exploration & Production
Business Magazine) Edisi January-February 2004 yang memuat hasil "wawancara" saya
menanggapi masalah "ketakutan" investor pada otonomi daerah. Mudah-mudahan bermanfaat
untuk dijadikan rujukan bagi rekan-rekan yang ingin proaktif (kampanye) investasi
migas di Indonesia.
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No More Fears of Regional Autonomy
(PetroMin Magazine January/February 2004, page 13)
The hard times are now over for Indonesia's local governments, or so it would seem.
Thanks to the decentralization system; even the smallest and frontier regions could be
as affluent as Jakarta very soon. For many years, local governments had to live under
the central government's fiefdom and had to make suffice themselves with money
transferred from central government's account. Now, local governments can use money
they collect on their own. Unfortunately, at the same time, the excitement of a
regional autonomy system grows together with investors' -especially foreign ones- fear
on the issue itself. As reported, there are many new taxes and levies in order to
fulfill the target of getting higher local income, which at the same time is killing
the foreign investor's appetite to make any investments in Indonesia.
On the face of it, things should be different now for the oil and gas
business. "There's nothing to be feared about regional autonomy for those who want to
do investment in the oil and gas business," says Andang Bachtiar, serving on the Board
of Experts on FKDPM (Forum Komunikasi Daerah Penghasil Migas), a communication forum
of oil and gas producing regencies. Of about 13 subjects authorized to the local
governments, the oil and gas business is not on the list. Oil and gas contracts are
still under the central government's authorization; including tax and regulation.
However, though Bachtiar assures that regional autonomy is not that scary,
he agrees that it could affect the investment climate. The burgeoning new taxes and
levies, according to Bachtiar, is because they -the local governments- are still
seized by euphoria. But this euphoria is soon to be over.
With the slowly but surely rising awareness of the oil and gas business,
local governments are starting to wise up on how to do business with the investors.
"They (the local governments) are starting to understand that not all
wells flow oil and gas, that there are steps in searching and finding of petroleum
along the risk of failure," says Bachtiar, who also serves as president of Indonesian
Association of Geologists, explaining the narrow-mindedness among the local kingpins
toward the E&P business. "I can see their horizon on the E&P business now slowly
opening. This has made them wiser in coping with the regional autonomy issue," says
Bachtiar, who regularly assists regents to the Ministry of Finance in calculating oil
and gas lifting. He furthermore predicts that the learning process about the petroleum
business will show good results by 2005.
"The local government's 15% earning of 85% -Indonesia's share of a PSC- is
very much higher when compared to previous earnings and is one of the breakthroughs
brought about by the decentralization system. The more investors come to the area, the
higher share they will receive. Therefore, instead of making the area like a battle
xone between the government and the investor, the local leaders should start creating
a comfort zone for investors. They would soon realize that too many additional taxes
and levies would do nothing but fleece investors.
By strongly supporting regional autonomy system, Bachtiar says, many good
things would come of it, for instance it would make people in the area be more
responsible towards companies working in their areas, since they know the industries
bring them benefits. As regencies compete, in providing suitable infrastructure and
capable officers, this would reveal the frontier areas like Papua and make the eastern
provinces as attractive investment as the western parts of the country.
In the future, Bachtiar expects that the growth of the oil and gas
business will draw geoscientists to work in such areas, therefore it will open greater
vocational opportunities for them. Speaking especially on oil and gas investment, he
reiterates that oil and gas investors should have nothing to worry about, since the
law and regulations on oil and gas E&P are strictly controlled by the central
government; all oil and gas contract agreements and profit sharing deals are done with
central government. It is clearly stated that no local government is allowed to make
any regulations related to the oil and gas business. Almost all significant
regulations and tax regimes on the oil and gas business are both made and controlled
by the central government.
There are ten recognized topics in the oil and gas business giving
authorization to the local government: for example, approval for oil and gas
concession usage for non E&P activities; recommendation on forest usage for E&P
activities, e.g.: land clearing - filling for site construction; licensing on
explosive warehouse and, recommendation for refinery construction.
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