HISTORICAL REVIEW AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVE OF WATER RESOURCES INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INDONESIAN CONDITIONS
ABSTRACT
The historical evidence on water resources development in Indonesia had at least been conducted since the Ancient Kingdoms of Mulawarman at the 5th Century AD followed by the flourishing era during the Buddhist and Hindu Era of the 7th to 9th Century AD. During which, the development and institutional arrangement were mainly based on the ‘executive order of the king’, referred to as ‘dawuhan’ or command, without any formal institutional arrangement.
The introduction of water resources technology was only started in the middle of the 18th century through the implementation of the Dutch Colonial Government Policy. During which, most water resources projects with parallel development of institutional arrangements, were conducted on experimental basis by virtue of trial-and-error approach. This was due to limited number of experiences, with limited knowledge about actual site conditions, and the absence of hydrological as well as climatological data.
The establishment of the Ministry of Public Works referred to in Dutch Language as ‘Department van Burgelijke Openbare Werken (B.O.W.)’ was only in 1854, which was responsible for development of public infrastructures on water resources. The establishment was encountered by problems for recruiting competence personnel’s due to the lack of experiences and technical skills. The above endeavours had been practically terminated during the Second World War till the revival of development program few years after the Country’s independence, 1940’s to 1950’s.
From this point on, the government of Indonesia has been taking all the necessary endeavours on institutional arrangement including the establishment of the government institutions at all levels. This include the review of the previously initiated ‘Water Regulation’ such as Presidential Instruction No. 1/1969 on Water Resources Management, Law No. 11/1974 on Water Resources Development, and most recently Law No.7/2004 on Water Resources, and its related Government Regulations. The latest law prescribes the urgency to establish Water Resources Council at the Central, Provincial, Regency, and/or at the River Basin levels, as effective coordinating instruments toward Integrated Water Resources Management.
In an attempt to scrutinize the institutional constraints stated above, this paper has been prepared to list up the past problems and constraints along the Indonesian history of water resources institutional arrangement, for discussing future challenges and develop sustainable and cost-effective approaches. The paper, however, is mainly addressing the general water resources institutional arrangement, and not specifically on the framework of development in flat coastal areas, which is relatively new to Indonesia.
