Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Inauguration of the 2022 National Coordination Meeting of the Government Internal Comptroller, at the State Palace, DKI Jakarta Province, June 14, 2022

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good morning,
May peace be upon us all,
Om swastiastu,
Nama buddhaya,
Greetings of Virtue.

Distinguished Chairperson of the Supreme Audit Agency of the Republic of Indonesia,

Distinguished Ministers of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet,

Distinguished Head of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and all ranks at the provincial and regional levels,

Distinguished Attorney General, Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri), Regional Police Chiefs, Regional Leaders in attendance,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I have often told you many times that the current situation is no easy, a complex situation due to global uncertainty. All countries are facing threats posed by food crisis, energy crisis, high inflation. To date, it is just the beginning.

To that end, all of us must prepare ourselves for it. Food security must be prepared. Energy sector must be precisely calculated considering a half of our energy supply is imported. Indonesia is a large state that needs a huge food supply. We also need a huge energy supply, be it for transportation, industries, or households, and so on. In a meantime, the threat of food crises can serve as an opportunity for us considering Indonesia has a lot of untapped, unproductive lands.

Two days ago in the evening, I received a phone call from a Prime Minister (PM); I do not need to mention who he/she is. “President Jokowi, please send us cooking oil within one to two days. We are completely out of stock. If there were no stock, it would trigger social economic crisis that could lead to political crisis,” the PM said. That kind of crisis has happened in a country, namely Sri Lanka.

The World Bank, the IMF have announced that there will be approximately 60 countries that will see economic collapse. As many as 40 (out of 60) countries are bound to experience it. It is the uncertainty as I said before. All of us must know, be aware, have sense of crisis. All of us. Today, we cannot only focus on general things. We also have to focus on micro things. I always told Head of the BPKP, “Sir, please check the detail. Sir, please help me to check the detail,” so that the policy [made by the Government] will not be off target.

Thus, the expenditures of the governments, both the Central Government and regional governments, must have three main points. First, it must gain more added value. Do not waste the budget for nothing. It must gain more added value for the country. Second, it must stimulate national economic growth, trigger economic growth. Third, it must be efficient.

Do not let Rp2,714 trillion of the State Budget and Rp1,197 trillion of the Regional Budget to be spent on imported products instead of local products, as Head of the BPKP said earlier. It is ironic. People’s money, revenue that we received from taxes including value-added tax, company’s income tax, individual income tax, employees’ income tax, non-tax revenue, as well as export that we have hardly collected is spent to buy imported products. We know that we are intelligent, but when we do this, it does not make senses. I must tell you the truth. The State Budget, the Regional Budget are unfortunately spent on imported products. It is other countries that received the added value, job opportunities. Does it make any sense?

To that end, I order the Government Internal Supervisory Apparatus (APIP), BPKP to thoroughly guide the program and it must succeed. Expenditures on local products must be carried out. I noticed that several ministries, agencies, regional governments are reluctant to buy local products. They have a lot of reasons, including unfit specs, poor quality, and other reasons. All of you must monitor them.

As Head of the BPKP earlier said, there are 842 products in e-Catalogue that are actually locally produced. What is that for? Remove all those 842 products, drop them if the products are already made available in Indonesia. Why are they displayed in the e-Catalogue? The APIP, BPKP, it is your duties.

I am proud that we have worked for months. Beforehand, only 46 regional governments have already had local e-Catalogue out of 514 regencies/cities in 34 provinces in all over Indonesia. Now, there are 123 regional governments. The increase was rapid thanks to the BPKP. Do monitor, guide them so that all regencies, cities, provinces can immediately have their own local e-Catalogue to showcase their local products.

I went to Wakatobi a couple of days ago. It is far from here. I was surprised that the local products there were properly packaged. The branding is eye-catching. Then, why do we buy imported products? We have a lot of local products.

Let me give you one example: low-speed sewing machine. The price of imported low-speed sewing machine is Rp13 million, while the local one is Rp12.8 million. So, what is the difference? Yes, the local product is cheaper. Buy the local one. There is no other reason. Don’t say: one is red and the other is white. I prefer white to red. So, I buy the white one. No, it cannot work that way.

Another example is nasal oxygen cannula, oxygen pipe. It is Rp8,300 (for imported product), while the local one is Rp6,900. After I checked, the product is imported. They had a lot of reasons, one of which is “The quality, Sir. The specs are not suitable.” They thought that we do not know about the quality. The BPKP must crosscheck this kind of cases. We have to buy local products.

Imported mechanic tool is Rp22.9 million, while the local product is Rp28 million. Choose the local one. It is okay if it is a little bit more expensive. We buy the local product as the country will receive the added value and it will provide employment in the country. There is no other reason.

Five years ago, I was disappointed. I ordered State-owned Enterprises to buy pipes. “There is no kind of specs in the country. So, we are forced to import them,” they said.

At that time, I was wondering whether it is difficult to produce pipes? Then, I inspected pipe making factory. “All types of pipes are in stock. What do you need, Sir? What kind of types, qualities do you need? We have all what you need. We export all products here to Japan, America, Europe,” they said. “How come? Foreigners buy our products, but why do we import their products?” All of us are intelligent people, but we did a silly thing. What a shame.

We must guide, monitor it. I order you to complete this so that it can trigger national economic growth, increase job opportunities because we buy our local products. For example, if there is a small factory that usually produces a thousand products, then it must meet the order from one of regional governments to produce ten thousand products. Because of the order, it will expand its factory, industry. It means that there will be more workers and investment will increase. No need to find foreign investors if it [the small factory] develops. It also means that the State Budget, Regional Budget can trigger investment and create employment.

As Head of the BPKP said earlier, the realization of the commitment has reached 45 percent of the target set amounting to Rp400 trillion. The commitment, I think, is Rp720 trillion. If based on my calculation, the commitment reached Rp800.39 trillion. However, the BPKP has verified it, so it becomes Rp720 trillion. It is a substantial amount of money. It is just a commitment. What is hard is to realize it. It is your duties to monitor it.

Last but not least, once again, I demand that [BPKP, APIP] consistently continue the monitoring. Do impose discipline among ministries, agencies, regional governments, state-owned enterprises, regional-owned enterprises in order to achieve the target of expenditure on local products. Do impose strict sanctions [on those who violate it]. I ordered Head of the BPKP to synergize this measure, guide all APIP in all regions to carry out local spending program under discipline for the sake of the country’s economic awakening.

That concludes my remarks on this auspicious occasion. By saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I officially inaugurate the 2022 National Coordination Meeting of the Government Internal Comptroller.

 I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(AP/MUR)