Legal reconstruction of dual authority: The mayor’s ex-officio role in Batam City governance

Batam City is a national strategic area with the status of a Free Trade Zone and Free Port, managed under the Batam Development Authority (BP Batam). The dualism of authority between the Batam City Government and BP Batam creates overlapping functions, licensing delays, and investment barriers. To address this issue, Government Regulation Number 62 of 2019 was issued, establishing an ex-officio policy where the Mayor of Batam simultaneously serves as Head of BP Batam. This research uses a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, legal philosophy, and comparative approaches to analyze the ex-officio policy from the perspective of General Principles of Good Governance (AUPB) and rule of law principles. The research findings show that this policy effectively improves coordination, accelerates services, and promotes economic growth, but still leaves legal issues including normative gaps regarding authority limits, accountability mechanisms, potential conflicts of interest, and minimal public participation. Therefore, this research recommends regulatory reconstruction through Government Regulation that clearly distinguishes the authorities of the City Government and BP Batam, establishes legally binding coordination procedures, and strengthens oversight mechanisms and community participation. These efforts are expected to create effective and accountable institutional governance in accordance with constitutional principles.