East Kalimantan's Special Autonomy Aspiration

Balikpapan, Thursday, 4/6/15. The Special Autonomy aspirations of the East Kalimantan Provincial Government emerged again during the Forum meeting Communication and Public Relations Coordination of Government Agencies (BAKOHUMAS) organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia with the theme "The Role of Regional Governments in Supporting Trisakti and Nawacita regarding Cooperation Abroad" in the meeting room of the Boerneo C Hotel Novotel Balipapan, Wednesday-Thursday, 3 to 5 June 2015.

The meeting of the East Kalimantan BAKOHUMAS Forum was attended by approximately 75 participants from SKPD Public Relations from the East Kalimantan Provincial and Regency/City Governments, private companies, BUMD, BUMN.

The participants of the East Kalimantan BAKOHUMAS Forum conveyed their aspirations regarding Special Autonomy to the Central Government on the grounds that: (1) so far the management of regional natural resources is very abundant but it is not commensurate with the balance funds provided obtained by the East Kalimantan Provincial Government; (2) East Kalimantan's position as the "Heart of Borneo"; (3) State border issues; (4) History; (5) Environmental damage due to mining; (6) Area size and backwardness of infrastructure in all fields. These reasons are always put forward by East Kalimantan Regional Government Officials both at the East Kalimantan Provincial Government and Regency/City Governments throughout East Kalimantan to attract support from both internal Regional Government, community components and regional and central legislative members who come from East Kalimantan.

The agenda for the meeting began with a report from the organizer, Siti Sofia Sudarma, Director of Information and Media, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then continued with remarks from the Central BAKOHUMAS administrator, Sudarman, SH Head of the Information and Conference, Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture.

Meanwhile, the speech from the Governor of East Kalimantan was represented by the Assistant for People's Welfare of the Regional Secretariat of East Kalimantan Province, Drs.H. Bere Ali, M.Si who delivered several messages including: 1. Conveying the general and social conditions of the people of East Kalimantan; 2. The East Kalimantan Provincial Government is ready to become the center of government or the State Capital for reasons appropriate to the geographical conditions and lethality of East Kalimantan and in theory the East Kalimantan region is susceptible to earthquakes; 3. Demands from the people of East Kalimantan and the Provincial Government towards the Central Government regarding Special Autonomy regarding the impact of injustice from the central government towards the East Kalimantan region; 4. The East Kalimantan Provincial Government together with the community must continue to welcome the ASEAN free market in 2016.

Meanwhile, the welcoming speech and opening of the 2015 BAKOHUMAS Forum throughout East Kalimantan was delivered by Ambassador Esti Andayani, Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia conveyed several important points, including:
1. Communication and coordination between public relations of the Regional Government of East Kalimantan Province and the Central Government, in this case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in order to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia and remain within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia;
2. Maintain harmony between regions throughout the region;
3. The existence of Public Relations in each SKPD or Regional Government is very important in order to establish good and balanced communication of public information and maintain good relations between the regions and the Central Government;
4. Developing human resources and the role of regional public relations in the context of cooperation with foreign parties;
5. Public Relations is also an economic working group with friendly countries.

Public Relations of Bappeda East Kalimantan Province / Sukandar, S.Sos