By : Shenna Aprilya Zahra )*
The government has instructed all levels of ministries and even all local regional governments to be able to monitor the use of their budgets. This aims to close all possibilities of potential loopholes in corrupt practices.
The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) asked all ministries or institutions as well as regional governments to use the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) appropriately and on target. According to him, it is very important for the various parties to be able to use the budget in a disciplined and thorough manner.
Not only that, but another important thing that must be done is to continue to prioritize transparency and accountability so that it can further close the potential for budget misuse related to corrupt practices.
The Head of State firmly requested that the 2024 budget be executed as soon as possible and realized as soon as possible, at least in January 2024. This is because the actual budget for 2023 itself is still quite low, both at the central and regional levels.
Data shows that budget absorption from the central government has currently only reached 74 percent, whereas budget use at the regional government level has only reached 64 percent. In fact, now it is actually the end of 2023.
So, in other words, in fact, in about three weeks from now, large amounts of funds will be released again. Therefore, the seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia continues to emphasize that every time a year changes since he first took office nine years ago, he comes to the conclusion that there must be a change in the way of working and also a change in mindset.
Even though it is not easy to change the way of working and the mindset in using budget funds appropriately and on target but also remaining transparent and accountable, the government still instructs that everything must be implemented as well as possible. Execution must be carried out as soon as possible, at least at the beginning of the year, if the budget funds are utilized.
On the other hand, to be able to anticipate uncertainty, President Jokowi asked the ministries to implement automatic adjustments. Because in reality every money spent by the government or related institutions is people’s money, so it should be able to bring good benefits to the people as well.
The main orientation emphasized is how to achieve optimal results. Even though the procedures are also something that cannot be taken lightly, the main orientation is indeed on results, where the results from the utilization of the entire government budget should be of maximum benefit to the people.
One example of the results of optimal budget utilization is the development carried out by PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) through their subsidiary, namely PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, which is currently starting the construction of the National Strategic Project (PSN) for the Pupuk Industrial Area in Fakfak Regency, West Papua.
This development was marked by a groundbreaking or first stone laying activity carried out by President Jokowi last week. It is known that the construction of a fertilizer industrial area itself is the first in Indonesia in the last 40 years.
Of course, the government then welcomed the plan to develop a Fertilizer Industrial Zone in Fakfak. This is because this project will be a major strategy for the country in facing the threat of a world food crisis and will also be able to realize national food sovereignty. In the future, with the fertilizer factory being built, it will be able to support the implementation of plans or programs for South Papua Province to become a national food barn.
Apart from that, the construction of a fertilizer industrial area in Papua itself is also aimed at realizing equitable development in the country, where so far all industrial areas have been located in Western Indonesia, and in fact people in the East have still not been touched by development.
Therefore, when he heard that there was a plan to build a fertilizer industrial area in Bumi Cenderawasih, President Jokowi immediately ordered it to be executed as soon as possible so that the Eastern region also had a fertilizer industry. This is a big plan, so it is hoped that every party in society can provide more and more full support.
The construction of a fertilizer industrial area in Papua is also in accordance with instructions from the Government which emphasizes various parties to be able to maximize and remain transparent in utilizing the budget provided in 2023, and also that there will be another budget provided next year for the benefit of the people.
In order to close all possibilities and gaps in potential acts of corruption, the government immediately instructed ministries and regional governments to monitor the use of the budget in an efficient and targeted manner and to remain open and accountable.
)* The author is a contributor to Ruang Baca Nusantara