Purbaya Responses Dedi Mulyadi Regarding Idle Funds: "Don't Tell Me"

JAKARTA - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has spoken out regarding the challenge put forward by West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, who challenged the central government to disclose data on regions suspected of holding funds in banks.

Purbaya emphasized that the data related to the funds did not come from the Ministry of Finance, but rather from the financial reporting system managed by Bank Indonesia (BI).

"Just ask the Central Bank. That's the data from there. He should have looked into it; it's likely his subordinates are deceiving him," he told the media on Tuesday, October 21.

He explained that the data held by the central government is a compilation of reports from the national banking sector.

Purbaya also stated that the data held by the Ministry of Finance is almost identical to that held by Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian.

"That's from banking reports, right? Regional government data is so-so. My data seems to be the same as Mr. Tito's when I met with him yesterday. Mr. Tito explained how much data there is in the banking sector this morning, and the figures are similar," he explained.

According to Purbaya, Dedi only understands the situation in West Java and does not reflect the national situation.

"So, Mr. Dedi knows all the banks? He only knows about West Java, right? I never described the West Java data. If he could provide it himself, I don't know where the data came from," he said.

Purbaya reiterated that information regarding regional government funds comes from Bank Indonesia's monitoring system, which receives regular reports from banks.

According to him, in that system, each government deposit is given a special label based on its type and ownership.

"That's data from the BI monitoring system, reported by banks every day, maybe every few weeks. And there are flags, checkmarks, right? This data belongs to the government, what type it is: deposits, checking accounts, and so on," he said.

He also emphasized that he is not a regional government employee authorized to examine the details of funds belonging to a particular regional government.

"No, I'm not a West Java regional government employee. If he wants to check, check it yourself," he said.

Purbaya emphasized that he would not respond further to Dedi's demands. "So, Mr. Dedi, don't order me to work," he stressed.

Regarding the IDR 18 trillion discrepancy between the reports from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) and Bank Indonesia, Purbaya suspects the discrepancy is due to differences in recording sources.

Bank Indonesia, as of September 30, recorded total regional government funds in banks at IDR 233.97 trillion, consisting of IDR 178.14 trillion in current accounts, IDR 48.40 trillion in time deposits, and IDR 7.43 trillion in savings.

Meanwhile, data from the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on reports from 546 regional governments as of October 17, shows that regional cash was only recorded at IDR 215 trillion.

"I didn't check it; Mr. Tito did. If it's like that in the banking records, that's how it's reported by the banks," he said.

He also added that banking reports to BI are routine and can be accessed at any time.

"If we could access Central Bank data, we could see it at any time," he said.

Purbaya suspects the IDR 18 trillion discrepancy likely stems from recording errors at the regional level.

"Not everything is correct. There might be some things I forgot, maybe this, maybe that," he said.