Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Submission of the Central Government Financial Report (LKPP) and the Audit Result Statement (IHPS) of the 2nd Semester of 2022 at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday, June 26, 2023

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Good afternoon,
May prosperity be upon us,
Om Swastiastu,
Namo Buddhaya,
Greetings of virtue.

Distinguished Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia;
Disinguished Chairperson, Leaders, and Personnel of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) of the Republic of Indonesia;
Distinguished Cabinet Ministers and Heads of Non-Ministerial Institutions;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

First and foremost, let me extend my appreciation to the chairperson, leaders and personnel of the BPK for your cooperation and support in overseeing state financial management. Let me also express my gratitude that the BPK has carried out an audit for the 2022 LKPP in a timely manner and thank God the opinion is unqualified [WTP, the best audit grade].

I remind all Cabinet Ministers and Heads of Institutions that WTP is not an achievement. The WTP reflects the commitment of all Government personnel in spending the State Budget. Cabinet Ministers and Heads of Institutions must spend the people’s money prudently.

I also remind all of you that every penny of the people’s money must benefit the people. Compliance and administrative matters are important, but the benefit for the people and communities are significantly more important.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In addition to improving accountability, we must also continue to improve the quality of spending. The quality of spending must be monitored from the planning stage. This must be properly implemented, monitored, and evaluated so that it is more on target, and the outcome is truly beneficial for the people and communities. Every penny of the people’s money must be returned to the people. It must be spent on sectors which directly affect the people, not to fund the process. We must be careful about this. Once again, the focus of the budget should not for the process or the bureaucracy.

In my remarks at the BPKP, I conveyed examples of budget spending in several provinces and regencies/cities, as well as in the Central Government. Let me cite an example of Regional Budget spending in a province. The budget was initially allocated for dissemination on the agricultural sector to improve human resource quality. The total budget was Rp 1.5 billion, but Rp 1 billion of that is used for business trips. The second example was the MSMEs development budget in a regency. The MSMEs development program was aimed at strengthening micro-enterprises, and the total budget was Rp 2.5 billion. Of the total budget of Rp 2.5 billion, Rp 1.9 billion was spent on fees and business trips. Less than 20 percent was used for micro business development.

The third example was the construction of an agricultural training center in a regency, using the regency budget. The goal of the budget was to develop and revamp training centers, with a budget of Rp 1 billion. A total of Rp 734 million of the budget was spent on fees, business trips and meetings. I don’t know how many meetings they had. There are many examples of this kind of budget spending, not just these three. There are thousands of examples of this kind. Ideally, the overhead [cost] should not exceed 20 percent or 25 percent.

The targeted output and outcome must also be clear, and the focus should be on excellent programs. I reiterate that we must focus on excellent programs, including stunting handling, poverty alleviation, support for farmer and fisherman productivity, inflation control, investment support, and others. We must also buy domestic products. I have said several times that we must buy MSMEs products so that MSMEs can level up.

To that end, I ask for support from the BPK and I order Cabinet Ministers, Heads of Institutions, Heads of Regional Governments, and Directors of State-Owned Enterprises and Regional-Owned Enterprises to oversee the accountability and quality of state financial spending. If we can do this, we can be more effective in improving people’s welfare, maintaining stability and boosting economic growth toward the advanced Indonesia that we aspire to.

That concludes my remarks.
I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Om santi santi santi om.

(RI/LW)