Follow the Minister of Home Affairs to Cut the Trip of the Ministry, Pramono: It is Not Beneficial for Jakarta, I Will Not Allow

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung confirmed that he would follow up on the instructions of the Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian regarding budget efficiency, one of which was by reducing official travel in the DKI Provincial Government environment.

Pramono said that every official travel in the DKI Provincial Government environment that requires the governor's approval will be inspected directly. He ensures that only activities that really have an impact on Jakarta will be allowed.

"For official travel, it happens that if you have to get the governor's approval directly, I will definitely see one by one," said Pramono at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Thursday, April 2.

Pramono said that the tightening of business travel permits was carried out amid uncertainty in the global supply chain which requires the government to carry out efficiency. According to him, this policy makes the management of related administrative efficiency in the DKI Provincial Government already running quite well.

"If it does not provide benefits for Jakarta, I will definitely not allow it. In fact, now almost all official trips, BUMD, and various other things are not allowed," said Pramono.

"So that way, Jakarta is relatively for administrative matters related to efficiency, in my opinion, it has been going quite well," he added.

On the other hand, the DKI Provincial Government is still trying to maintain regional revenue so that it is not eroded. Pramono claims that the realization of revenue, especially taxes, in the first quarter of this year actually exceeded the target.

"Including income, redistribution, and so on have not decreased. So, whether efficiency should be done, we still do it."

In addition to cutting official travel, efficiency policies will also be carried out through the implementation of work from home or work from home (WFH) for state civil servants (ASN) every Friday as stipulated by the central government.

Previously, the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian again asked regional heads to suppress unnecessary spending, especially official travel, so that the budget could be directed to programs that were more in favor of the community.

Tito made the statement when asked about cost-saving measures in the midst of discussing WFH policies and energy efficiency. According to Tito, the encouragement to save the budget has actually been conveyed to regional heads for a long time.

"If I have said in the past that I want regional heads to be efficient, I will emphasize efficiency again, especially budget efficiency," said Home Minister Tito Karnavian at the Presidential Palace complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, March 25.

He said that one of the posts that needed to be suppressed was a non-urgent official trip. "Especially non-essential official travel. So the money is directed to pro-people programs," he said.

Tito also opened the possibility of using mechanisms such as during the COVID-19 pandemic when the WFH scheme was re-enforced. At that time, employees were required to be absent online, turn on their mobile phones, and open GPS to actually work from home.