Economic Emergency, AEI Urges Governance Improvement And Termination Of Populis Program

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Economist Alliance (AEI) has called for Seven Economic Emergency Pressures as a form of concern over the national economic condition which is considered to be experiencing a governance crisis and a wrong policy direction.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Indonesian Economist Alliance visited the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Airlangga Hartarto, to discuss the Seven Economic Emergency Pressures signed by 456 economists, professionals, and academics in the economic field as well as 262 other professional fields from within and outside the country.

This meeting was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Finance who is currently also the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS), Anggito Abimanyu.

Representative of the Indonesian Economist Alliance (AEI) Wijayanto Samirin expressed his appreciation for the willingness of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, the Chair of the LPS, and related ranks who have observed the Seven Economic Emergency Pressures.

He reiterated that currently a real and responsible follow-up is needed in dealing with the economic emergency conditions that are being felt by the community.

"We again emphasize the importance and urgency of serious follow-up in tackling the economic emergency conditions experienced by the community through the implementation of trustworthy economic policies," Wijayanto said in his statement, Monday, September 29.

Meanwhile, representative of the Indonesian Economist Alliance Vid Adrison said there were several data showing a decline in the quality of life of the community.

"The two common threads of this economic problem are massive resource misallocations and the fragility of state administrator institutions due to conflicts of interest and non-trustworthy governance," said Vid.

During the meeting, the Indonesian Economist Alliance also again emphasized the first pressure in the Seven Economic Emergency Pressures, namely the need to seriously and thoroughly correct the state budget misallocation.

AEI representative Lili Yan Ing also highlighted the need to stop inappropriate budget allocations, including significantly reducing state spending on populist programs such as the Free Nutrition Food Program (MBG).

According to him, although this program aims to overcome triple burden of malnutrition, namely stunting, obesity, and micro nutritional malnutrition, the government still needs to develop policies based on evidence, taking into account target recipients and implementations that are in accordance with the diversity of local conditions in Indonesia.

"By turning MBG recipients from universal to targeted, the government can improve budget misallocation and adjust the program to policy objectives so that every rupiah issued by the government can be used effectively," said Lili Yan Ing.

Furthermore, AEI Representative Vivi Alatas also emphasized that the implementation of the MBG program needed to be temporarily suspended, considering that until September 19, 2025, more than 5,000 cases of students were recorded to have been poisoned due to the implementation of the program.

He emphasized that as stated in the sixth pressure, public policies such as MBG must be designed through data and evidence-based technocratic processes.

"This means that for the MBG program, it needs to begin with a pilot process with measurable and transparent output and impact indicators, then increase the program scale (mainstreaming) only on programs that have proven successful," added Vivi.

In line with AEI Representative Milda Irhamni also emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability in the implementation of MBG, in accordance with the second and seventh pressures.

He suggested that this program be managed within an institutional framework involving stakeholders, such as teachers, parents, and local governments.

"As a form of transparency, the evaluation of the MBG program should be carried out by independent institutions that have a good track record to avoid conflicts of interest and restore public trust," he added.

Seven Economic Emergency Pressures

Urge 1: thoroughly improve the budget misallocation that occurs and place the budget on policies and programs fairly and proportionally.

Urge 2: Restore independence, transparency, and ensure that there is no intervention based on the interests of certain parties in various state administrator institutions (Bank Indonesia, Central Statistics Agency, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Corruption Eradication Commission, Supreme Audit Agency, Attorney General's Office), and return state administrators to their dignity and functions as they should be.

Urges 3: Stop the dominance of the state which risks weakening local economic activity, including the involvement of Danantara, BUMN, TNI, and Polri as the dominant organizers so as to make the market uncompetitive and can get rid of local jobs, the MSME ecosystem, the private sector, and social capital of the community.

Pressure 4: Deregulation of policies, licensing, licensing and simplification of the bureaucracy that hinders the creation of a conducive business climate and investment.

Urge 5: Prioritize policies that handle inequality in various dimensions.

Urge 6: Restore the proof-based policies and technocratic processes in policymaking and eradicating populist programs that disturb the stability and prevalence of fiscals (such as Free Nutritious Eating, Red and White Village Cooperatives, people's schools, downstreaming, subsidies and energy compensation, and Danantara).

Urges 7: Improve the quality of institutions, build public trust, and restore governance of state and democracy administrators, including eradicating conflicts of interest and rent-seeking.