Pada masa orde baru, di berlakukan undang-undang No.5
tahun 1974 tentang Pemerintahan Desa, dan setelah
jatuhnya orde baru, pada masa transisi (habibie) di
revisilah undang-undang tersebut menjadi undang-undang
No. 22 tahun 1999 tentang pemekaran daerah otonom.
Dengan undang-undang tersebut, 32 daerah di mekarkan
menjadi Kabupaten Otonom seluruh indonesia, diantara
Kabupaten Mentawai salah satu daerah yang di mekarkan
yang terletak di daerah propinsi Sumatera Barat. Sejak
pembentukan/peresmian Kabupaten Mentaweai pada tanggal
15 Oktober 1999 yang lalu samapai sekarang (sebelum
Pembentukan DPRD Definitif) pembangunan infrastruktur
pemerintahan tidak ada keseriusan oleh Pemda Mentawai
untuk membangunnya ( Badril Bakar, red). Di kalangan
masyarakat khususnya intelektual Mentawai sangat
berharap akan ada pemilihan lokal, dalam rangka
pembentukabn DPRD, dan infrastruktur pemerintahan
Kabupaten baru ini, namun pada saat itu juga terjadi
gejolak di Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU) jakarta yagn
menyebabkan KPU di bubarkan. Karena KPU di bubarkan
maka secara tidak langsung pemlu Lokal untuk daerah
yang di mekarkan batal. Walapun demikian menteri dalam
negeri dan beberapa tokoh nasional lainnya mengambil
kebijakan dengan membuat undang-undang/PP dan kepres,
untuk di pergunakan oleh daerah yang di mekarkan di
seluruh indonesia. Undang-undangf yang di buat di
antaranya, Undang – undang no. 9 tentang pembentukan
Kabupaten mentawai, Kepmendagri No. 29 tahun 2000
tentang petunjuk palaksana , keputusan presiden No.
110/KEPRES/2000 tentang pengisian keanggotaan. Dengan
keputusan dan undang-undang ini, daerah yang di
mekarkan akan membentuk pemerintahan yang definitif,
sehingga proses pembangunan daerah yang mekarkan
tersebut proses pembangunan dapat di laksanakan dengan
baik.

Setelah beberapa lama dari 32 daerah yang di mekarkan
tersebut sudah terbentuk pemerintahan yang definitif,
namun Mentawai masih belum ada keseriusan pembentukan
apa Pemeritah Daerah Tk. I Sumatera Barat atau memang
Pemerintah Daerah Tk. II Padang Pariaman yang
sebelumnya mentawai menjadi wilayah kekuasaan
Kabupaten Padang Pariaman. Pada pemilihan umum tahun
1999 yang lalu dua orang Mentawai menjadai anggota
DPRD Padang Pariaman hasil suara dari Mentawai, apakah
memang dua kursi yang dapat untuk Mentawai atau tidak
itu yang belum jelas bagi kita.

Karena KPU di bubarkan, maka sebelum membentuk DPRD
Mentawai, di bentuklah Panitia Pengisian Keanggotaan
DPRD Mentawai atas intruksi dari Menteri dalam Negeri
melelui Gubernur Sumatera Barat, supaya DPRD Definitif
segara di bentuk dan PPK ini yang akan bekerja dalam
rangka menginput aspirasi rakyat. Karena dengan
batalnya Pemilu Lokal, maka PPK mengambil kebijakan
bahwa Anggota DPRD Mentawai akan di pilih melalui
hasil suara yang di peroleh pada pemilihan Umum tahun
1999 yang lalu. Dengan demikian terjadilah pertarungan
politik antar elit politik, dalam mepertahankan dan
mengadu argumentasi melalui media pers. Namun setelah
beberapa kali keluar argumentasi di media pers, maka
di sepakatilah akan segera diambil hasil suara seperti
yang di usulkan PPK DPRD Mentawai. Setelah itu, PPK
memberikan kesempatan pimpina partai politik yang ikut
dalam pemilu tahun yang lalu untuk mengisi dan
memberikan para calon legislatif. Pada tanggal
12/08/2000, PPK mengeluarkan Para Calon Legistif DPRD
Mentawai termasuk 5 orang anggota DPRD Padang Pariaman
yang di pindahkan ke Kabupaten Mentawai diantaranya :
Agustinus Sabebegen, S.PD, Pdt. Edison Saleleubajak,
S.Th, . Namun beberapa partai politik seperti PAN
(Partai Amanat Nasional) dan Partai Persatuan Dan
Pembangunan (PPP) yang mengatasnamakan 21 Partai
politik Ketidak setujuan beberapa partai politik
tentang susunan keanggotaan dalam rangka merebut
kursi. Para elit politik mempergunakan Keputusan
Menteri Dalam Negeri No. 29 tahun 2000 dan Keppres
No.110/2000 dengan mengancam akan menemui presiden dan
MPR tentang penolakan beberapa partai politik tentang
susunan angotya DPRD Mentawai. Namun beberapa tokoh
masyarakat, Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat dan Mahasisswa
asal Mentawai yang bergabung dalam GMM(Gerakan
Mahasiswa Mentawai), juga tidak diam dan membiarkan
persoalan itu. Dan seperti dalam pernyataan GMM kepada
Gubernur Sumatera Barat dengan mengancam"kalau pemda
dan beberapa Partai Politik (PAN dan PPP, red)
Sumatera Barat tidak serius menangani dan membangun
Mentawai, dengan mempergunakan dan hanya salah
memahami/mengartikan UU / Keppres / Kepmendagri yang
ada, dengan tujuan kepentingan politik/golongan mereka
" (padang Ekspres, Desember 2000). Hal ini muncul
karena sudah beberapa kali pelantikan DPRD Mentawai di
undur dengan alasan yang tidak masuk akal, padahal
kerja DPRD yang sudah di lantik masik banyak seperti
Penyususnan APBD, PERDA dan infrastruktur pemerintahan
definitif lainnya.

Akhirnya DPRD Mentawai Di lantik.

Kalaupun banyak elemen yang tidak setuju dengan
susunan DPRD Mentawai, akhirnya di lantik juga setelah
beberapa kali batal serta di keluarkan SK DPRD oleh
gubernur sumatera barat. Pada tanggal, Minggu,
Desember 2000 di Tuapejat dan anggota DPRD yang baru
saja di lantik langsung menyusun programnya sekaligus
membuat tata tertib DPRD Mentawai periode 2001-2004.
namun sebelum pelantikan, dua orang yang sudah di SK –
kan, tidak dapat rekomendasi dari DPD Partai golkar,
ada apa di balik itu ?, kenapa sebelum pelantikan
tidak direkomendasikan oleh partai yang bersangkutan
Selain itu, menjelang pada hari raya natal dan hari
raya idul fitri, anggota DPRD Mentawai juga memilih
ketua dan susunan lembaga. Dari hasil kerja DPRD yang
baru di lantik itu, terpilihlah Pdt. Edison
Saleleubajak, S.Th (PDI-P) sebagai ketua dan
Agustinus Sabebegen, S.Pd (PDKB) sebagai wakil ketua,
San Adi Iklas Samaloisa S.Sos sebagai ketua fraksi
PDI-P, Hasurungan Hutagoal sebagai ketua Fraksi
Partai Nasionalis dan Yudas Sabaggalet, S E sebagai
ketua fraksi PDKB. Satu hal yang patut kita bangga,
setelah pelantikan anggota dewan langsung kerja tanpa
ada persiapan menjelang hari raya agama, artinya
mereka tidak main-main lagi membangun mentawai. Nah
bagaiman kita sebagai masyarakat mentawai, apakah kita
juga mau mendukung dan ikut berpartsipasi membangun
mentawai kedepan yang kabupaten masih bayi ini. Maka
perlu persatuan dan dukungan yang kuat dari masyarakat
dan lsm sebagai pengontrol kinerja para wakil-wakil
kita.

A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY CONCERNING LEGAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS PRECEEDING THE INAUGURATION OF THE DEFINITIVE LOCAL PEOPLES REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY, MENTAWAI.

By: Arsenius Sirirui
Law Student
Ekasakti University, Padang
(Quotes from the local press Padang Express and Mimbar Minang)

The New Order [1965, Suharto] has seen the enactment of Lw No.5, 1974, concerning Local Government, and following the fall of the New Order [regime], in the transition era ([B.J.]Habibie), this law was revised, becoming Law No.22, 1999 concerning the development of Regional Autonomy. Through this law, 32 regions have been developed, becoming Autonomous Kabupaten throughout Indonesia, one amongst them being Kabupaten Mentawai, one area so developed located in the province of West Sumatra. Since the formation/making official of the Kabupaten of Mentawai on 15 October 1999, up until now (prior to the formation of the Definitive Peoples' Representative Assembly [DPRD]) the infrastructural development had not been seriously tackled by Mentawai's local government (Badril Bakar, ed.). In community circles, particularly amongst Mentawai intellectuals, there existed a strong hope for a local election, within the framework for the formation of the DPRD and the administrative infrastructure in this new Kabupaten. However at this time it so happened that the Electoral Commission in Jakarta was disbanded. This led to the indirect consequence of the cancellation of these newly developed regions' local elections. Despite this the Minister for Internal Affairs along with several other national figures enacted a policy of making laws and Presidential Decrees that could be used by these regions throughout Indonesia. These laws included Law No. 9 regarding the formation of the Kabupaten of Mentawai, Ministerial Resolution No. 29, 2000, a guide for the implementors of the law, Presidential Resolution No.110/KEPRES/2000 regarding the means of deciding on membership [of official governmental bodies]. Through these resolutions and laws, the newly formed regions were able to form definitive administrations, the result being that the processes of the development of these new regions could proceed smoothly.

After a short period of time definitive administrations had been created from these 32 regions. However Mentawai did not yet have a serious process of governmental structuring underway, whether Local Government Level 1, West Sumatra [provincial level], or Local Government Level 2, Padang-Pariaman, which formerly held power over the region [that is to be the focus of power]. In the general elections of 1999, two local Mentawai people were elected to the Padang-Pariaman DPRD, an outcome of the vote from Mentawai. But it was still not clear to us whether those two seats had in fact been obtained for Mentawai.

Because the Electoral Commission was disbanded, prior to the formation of the Mentawai DPRD the Committee for the Selection of Members [PPK] of the Mentawai DPRD took place in accordance with instructions from the Minister for Internal Affairs through the Governor of West Sumatra, in order that a definitive DPRD be formed. This PPK operated in order to input community aspirations. With the cancellation of local elections, the PPK took the step of selecting DPRD members from the election results of the 1999 elections. This led to political clashes amongst the political elite, carried out through defending and attacking each other's arguments in the press. Following several such exchanges in the press, agreement was reached that a vote needed to be taken as proposed by the PPK DPRD Mentawai. After this the PPK gave the opportunity to all the political parties that participated in the 1999 elections to fill the candidate positions. On August 12, 2000, the PPK issued the [official] candidates for the Mentawai DPRD including 5 members from Padang Pariaman who were to move to the Kabupaten of Mentawai including: Agustinus Sabebegen, S.PD, Pdt. Edison Saleleubajak S.Th, . Nevertheless, several political parties such as PAN and PPP, behind whom were 21 political parties not in agreement with the composition of the DPRD, argued over the seats. The political elite made use of Ministerial Resolution No. 29, 2000, and Presidential Resolution No.110/2000 with the threat that they would meet with the President the National People's Deliberative Assembly in respect of the rejection of several political parties in relation to the composition of the Mentawai DPRD. Nevertheless, several community figures, Self-Help Organisations and University students from Mentawai, working together within the GMM (Mentawai University Students' Movement), did not simply accept this. And as declared in GMM's statement to the Governor of West Sumatra and, threateningly, advised that "the Local Administration and several political parties (PAN and PPP, ed.) in West Sumatra were not seriously working to develop Mentawai, and merely relied on using, and misunderstanding, the Law, Presidential Resolutions, and Resolutions of the Minister for Internal Affairs, and were just looking to their own political objectives" (Padang Ekpres, December 2000). This issue appeared because the inauguration of the Mentawai DPRD had already been unreasonably delayed several times, whereas there was still much to be done by an already inaugurated DPRD, such as the creation of a Budget, Regional Regulations and a definitive administrative infrastructure.

Eventually the Mentawai DPRD is inaugurated.

Even though many elements were against the composition of the DPRD, it was finally officially instated after several cancellations and the issuing of DPRD Letter of Authority by the Governor of West Sumatra. In December 2000 with the DPRD members officially instated, they went straight ahead in organising their program and rules for the period 2001-2004. Nevertheless, prior to the inauguration two people who were subject to the Letter of Authority did not receive a recommendation from the DPD Golkar Party. What was behind this? Why was it that before the official instatement they were not recommended by the party involved? Aside from this, getting on towards Christmas and Idul Fitri, the members of the Mentawai DPRD had also chosen their leader and had set in place their institutional structures. The outcome of the newly instated DPRD's activities, Pdt. Edison Saleleubajak, S.Th ([the] PDI-P [political party]) as the leader and Agustinus Sabebegen, S.Pd (PDKB[party]) as his deputy, San Adi Iklas Samaloisa S.Sos as the leader of the PDI-P fraction, Hasurungan Hutagoal as the leader of the PDKB fraction. One issue that it is appropriate for us to be proud of is that after their official instatement to office the members got right to work, without preparations nearing the religious holidays. The meaning of this is that they did not play around any more in the business of developing Mentawai. So, how about ourselves, as members of the Mentawai community, do we also wish to lend our support and also participate in moving ahead with the development of this Kabupaten that is still in its infancy? Hence what is needed is unity and strong support from the community and the self-help organisations as a check on the activities of our representatives.