Efficiency Must Start from the Government
The government has started talking about fuel savings. President Prabowo Subianto has opened the option of working from home, reducing working days, to limiting fuel consumption because the turmoil in the Middle East is considered to be able to suppress energy prices, food prices, and the state budget. There is no problem with that. Agree with the option. In a situation like this, the country must not be slow. Many countries have also prepared savings measures first.
The President himself gave an example of Pakistan. In his presentation, Pakistan implemented work from home 50 percent, cut the working day to four days, cut the salaries of ministers and members of parliament, reduced the fuel allowance of ministries, limited the use of government vehicles, stopped spending on vehicles and furniture, and held off on overseas travel. This means that when a crisis comes, the first thing to be cut should be the country's luxuries.
Other countries are also moving in the same direction. Malaysia has canceled the Idulfitri open house at ministries, government agencies, and government-related companies, while limiting the overseas visits of cabinet members. The Philippines even took a more technical step. The temperature of the air conditioner is set at 24 degrees Celsius, the lights and unnecessary devices are turned off, face-to-face meetings and official travel are restricted, and work patterns are set for four days from the office and one day from home for non-teaching staff. Thailand is also taking a similar path. The bureaucracy is asked to save energy, postpone overseas travel, and regulate the use of office electricity. It means the same thing. Savings start with the state machine first.
But there is one thing that must not pass. Efficiency must not be interpreted as slowing down the country. If work from home or reduction of working days is chosen, public services must remain at maximum. Offices can be more economical, but public services must not shrink. Do not let citizens who need permits, health services, administration, or other basic services be complicated in the name of savings.
The same applies to the economy. At a time when the economy is heavy, everyone must move. The state can save energy, but don't let the policy also slow down the economic cycle. Mobility can be regulated, but small businesses, trade, services, and sectors that live from the movement of people should not be hit. Reasonable efficiency is efficiency that suppresses waste, not efficiency that kills activity.
Indonesia itself is facing a problem that cannot be covered with the phrase "safe stock". Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia has indeed ensured that fuel stocks are still available. But at the same time he admitted that the capacity of the national fuel storage tank is in the range of 21-25 days, with an average of 22-23 days. Bahlil emphasized that the figure does not mean that fuel will run out in 22 or 23 days, but rather illustrates the capacity of the stock stored at one time and continues to be refilled. The explanation is important, but also opens the reality that our energy cushion is indeed thin.
More than that, the issue of state waste is actually an old story. The Comptroller General of the Republic of Indonesia in IHPS II 2022 had recorded audit findings worth Rp. 25.85 trillion, consisting of findings of wastefulness, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness of Rp. 11.20 trillion and findings of non-compliance of Rp. 14.65 trillion. This means that the corrective material has been around for a long time.
The problem is, the disease has not really healed. In IHPS I 2025, the BPK again recorded that in 41 objects of examination of SOEs and other bodies there were 353 findings containing 572 problems worth Rp63.57 trillion. This figure consists of 191 non-compliance problems worth Rp20.22 trillion and 101 problems of wastefulness, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness worth Rp43.35 trillion. This figure is too big to be considered just a routine record. Showing that waste in the state body is not just a political impression or accusation, but a problem recorded in official audits.
Therefore, this problem is not just a matter of panic buying or a momentary commotion. This is a sign that our energy structure is not yet solid, while the discipline of state spending is not yet fully in place. If the government is serious about efficiency, start from the center of power. Cut the official travel. Freeze the purchase of official vehicles. Reduce ceremonial meetings. Organize excessive facilities. And if necessary, also consider cutting allowances or non-priority spending in the environment of officials and the DPR.
People are not anti-savings. Because for many people, saving is not a new policy. It has become a way of surviving every day. People have always lived in a calculated way. Therefore, it is only right that the state sets an example of efficiency.