Administrative divisions of Indonesia

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This article is part of the series: Subdivisions of Indonesia
Province level
Provinces
City & Regency level
Cities
Regencies
Subdistrict level
Subdistricts
Village level
Villages

Indonesia is divided into provinces (Indonesian: Provinsi). Provinces consist of regencies (Indonesian: Kabupaten) and cities (Indonesian: Kotamadya). Province, regencies, and cities, have their own local governments and parliementary bodies.

Since the enactment of Law Number 22 Year 1999 regarding Local Government (the law was revised by Law Number 32 Year 2004), the local governments enjoy greater role to administer their own area - however foreign politics, defense (including armed forces and national police), system of law, and monetary policy, are still being national government domain. Since 2005, heads of local government (governors, regents, and mayors) has been directly elected by the popular election.

1 Province
2 Regency and City
3 Sub-district
4 Village: Desa and Kelurahan
- 4.1 Desa
- 4.2 Kelurahan
5 Statistics
6 See also

[edit] Province

Province (Indonesian: Provinsi) is headed by a governor. Each province has its own legislative body, called Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah (literally means "Regional People's Representatives Assembly"). Governor and member of representatives are elected by popular vote for 5 years term.

Currently Indonesia is divided into 33 provinces. Seven provinces were created since 2000. Among 33 provinces of Indonesia, 4 of them have special status:

Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (formerly: Aceh Special Region), according to MoU of 2005 has greater status, such as has its own Islamic syari'ah law (only for Muslim citizen), flag and song of province, and local political parties are allowed.
Yogyakarta Special Region. The governor is not elected, but automatically served by Sultan of Yogyakarta. For centuries, Sultanate of Yogyakarta has reigned in the region.
Papua (formerly: Irian Jaya), since 2000 has greater role of local government, including allowed to own flag and song of province.
Jakarta Special Capital Region, is a capital city of Indonesia, and place of all national government bodies. It is proposed that Jakarta area will be extended to part of neighbouring provinces.

Each province is divided into regencies and cities.

[edit] Regency and City

Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten) and City (Indonesian: Kota) are a local level of government smaller than a province, however they enjoy greater decentralization affairs than province does, such as provide public schools and public health facilities.

Both regency and city are the same level, having their own local government and legislative body. The difference between a Regency and a City lies in differing demographics, size and economics. Generally the regency has larger area than city, and city has a non-agricultural economic activities. Regency is headed by a regent (Indonesian: Bupati), and the city is headed by a mayor (Indonesian: Walikota). Regent or mayor and member of representatives are elected by popular vote for 5 years term.

Each regency or city is divided into sub-district.

[edit] Sub-district

Sub-district (Indonesian: Kecamatan) is area within regency or city. Head of sub-district is called "Camat"'. Camat is a civil servant, responsible to the regent (for regency) or to the mayor (for city).

In Papua Province and West Irian Jaya, sub-district is called District (Indonesian: Distrik), and is headed by a "Head of District" (Indonesian: Kepala Distrik).

Each sub-district is divided into Desa or Kelurahan.

[edit] Village: Desa and Kelurahan

The next level is that of the Desa or Kelurahan. Both Desa and Kelurahan are the area within sub-district, but however Desa enjoys greater local matters than Kelurahan does.

[edit] Desa

In Indonesian, as in English, village (desa) has rural connotations, in the context of Indonesian Government Administration, a Desa can be defined as a body which has authority over the local people in accordance with acknowledged local traditions of the area. Desa is headed by "Head of Desa" (Indonesian: Kepala Desa), and elected by popular vote.

The term of "desa" varies between region. In West Sumatra, desa is called "nagari", in Papua is called "kampung", and in Aceh is called "gampong".

[edit] Kelurahan

Though Desa and Kelurahan are part of sub-district, Kelurahan has limited power than Desa. Kelurahan is headed by a "Lurah". Lurah is a civil servant, and directly responsible to Camat. Kelurahan is part of Regency/City government bureaucracy.