Gov’t Continues to Impose Moratorium on Regional Expansion

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin (center) with several Government high ranking officials, at the Vice President Palace, Jakarta, Thursday (3/12). (Photo by: Vice President Secretariat)

The Government continues to impose moratorium on regional expansion, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said on Thursday (3/12).

To date, Indonesia has 223 New Autonomous Regions (DOB). Based on report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) in 2019, most of the budget for 223 DOB established around 1999-2014 are coming from the Central Government’s budget, meaning that they are not independent.

The Vice President said that the moratorium was based on several factors, such as Locally Generated Income (PAD) of the DOB is considered low, meanwhile the Central Government’s budget cannot finance operational costs of all DOBs.

“The PAD is still below transfer to regions budget,” he said.

Moreover, he said, the national fiscal policy is currently focused on the handling of COVID-19 and national economic recovery.

“The state finance cannot afford it since there are many national development priorities to be financed such as infrastructure, education, health, and human resources,” the Vice President added.

For that reason, the Government carries out comprehensive analysis on the impact and budget needed to expand regions. The Government also made several policies regarding local people to resolve problems of regional governments and before the expansion.

“The allocation of Village Funds is increased from Rp71.2 trillion in the 2020 State Budget to Rp72 trillion in the 2021 Budget Bill. The Government also provided stunting prevention program, social security program, and other social protection programs,” he said.

He went on to say that if the Government revokes the moratorium, the expansion of new autonomous regions must be limited and must take into account state financial capacity and evaluation of previous expansion.

“The establishment of DOB is limited based on interests of national strategic plan, politics, and the needs of the people by still taking into account state financial capacity and other technical consideration such as evaluation of previous expansion.” He said.

Echoing similar point, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian said that the establishment of DOB needs huge budget, including budget for infrastructure, personnel expenditure, and capital and goods expenditures.

Therefore, considering state financial capacity and the ongoing pandemic, the plan of establishment of DOB will also be affected.

In the meantime, Speaker of Regional Representatives Council (DPD) said that the Council whose members come from all regions in Indonesia is mandated by the 1945 Constitution to propose and discuss the arrangement, establishment, and merging of regions. Thus, the Council will always monitor the dynamics and aspiration of the regions, be it in provinces or regencies/cities. (Vice President Secretariat/UN) (RAS/LW)