Mendes PDTT Reveals 7 Reasons For The Need For Revision Of Village Law, Including Accountability Of 3 Percent Of Village Funds Forming Lumpsum

Mendes PDTT Abdul Halim Iskandar. (ANTARA-Zubi Mahrofi)

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar assessed that Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages deserves to be revised.

"There are at least seven reasons why the revision of the Village Law, which is almost ten years old," said Mendes PDTT in an online Urgence Webinar on the Evaluation of the Village Law in the Middle of the 2024 Election Hiruk Pikuk which was held by the Institute for Research, Education and Economic and Social Information (LP3ES), Monday, April 10, was confiscated by Antara.

He revealed the seven things, namely the status of the village in the governance of the Republic of Indonesia, the authority of the village and village governments in regulating and managing village households and the interests of the village community, the allocation of village development funds sourced from the state budget.

Then, the status of village heads and village officials, village government operations, the welfare of village heads and village officials, and the direction of village development policies and empowerment of village communities.

On that occasion, he emphasized that the term of office of the village head was not the main issue that made Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages revised.

"The business of the village head's term of office is very technical and a small part of the need for a revision of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages," said Mendes PDTT.

He said the village government needed ample space to regulate everything related to development in villages, including to make planning and utilization of village funds that use the latest data, both the list of potential and village problems as a basis.

He hopes that the revision of the Village Law can sharpen the status of the village head and his apparatus. Thus, the village head can move more broadly to communicate with the community without being disturbed by matters related to administration.

"Village heads need a lot of budget to communicate, foster the community, and operational funds for the village government," said Mendes PDTT.

He said that since 2023 the village head has been able to utilize three percent of the total village funds for the operational needs of the village government. However, the Ministry of PDTT is still trying to take responsibility so that it is in the form of lumpsum, not at-cost, so it does not burden the village head.