Regional Autonomy and Local Resource Mobilization in Eastern Indonesia: Problems and Pitfalls of Fiscal Decentralization

Abstract

Does fiscal decentralization empower sub-national governments to raise sufficient revenue from local sources thereby reducing their dependence on the national government? This paper addresses this question by focusing on Indonesia's most recent decentralization policy and assessing and analysing the role of local governments in this regard. Based on data collected from two different locations in Eastern Indonesia the paper shows that the dependency of local authorities on central government is excessive and that the share of local revenue in regional budget has remained rather small. It also shows that while the fiscal power granted to local governments is limited, a combination of politico-economic and contextual factors has further undermined the prospect of revenue mobilisation at the local level.