Observers Demand the Corruption of the Education Budget in Langkat Be Returned and Supervision Tightened

JAKARTA - The National Coordinator of the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) Ubaid Matraji demands that the education budget that is suspected of being corrupt in the case that ensnared Langkat Regent Syah Afandin be returned for the benefit of the world of education.

According to him, education funds are the right of learners so they must be restored, not lost due to corrupt practices. Ubaid said the case in Langkat proved that education budgets were still a soft target for corruption for regional elites.

The amount of budget allocation, the number of procurement packages, weak supervision, and the strong relationship between the regional head's power to the education service, school principals, to the providers of goods and services make the education sector vulnerable to being diverted.

"The education budget is still a fertile field for corruption for regional elites. Why? Because the budget is large, the procurement package is many, the supervision is weak, and the relationship between the regional head's power to the service, school principal, and goods/service providers is very dominant," he said through a short message, Sunday, July 5.

"When education is managed like a political project, then schools turn into a rent machine," he continued.

Ubaid also highlighted the alleged practice of buying and selling the post of school head in the Syah Afandin case.

He said that if the head of school was chosen because of a deposit and not competence, the impact would not only damage the education bureaucracy. The quality of learning is said to be affected.

"The most dangerous thing is the alleged sale and purchase of school head positions. If the head of school is chosen because of a deposit, not because of integrity and capacity, then what is damaged is not only bureaucracy, but also the quality of learning, child protection, and the future of students," he said.

"School principals who are born from transactions will tend to look for capital, not to improve the school," he continued.

He assessed that the Langkat case should be a national alarm that the allocation of education budget of 20 percent does not automatically produce better education, if the management is still corrupt.

Ubadi stated that without transparency, open audits, and public oversight, the education budget risked continuing to be a bank.

Therefore, JPPI urges the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) not to stop at the designation of the regent and several parties as suspects.

Ubaid asked the KPK to uncover the entire network suspected of being involved, including civil servants, project providers, political brokers, and parties who enjoy the flow of funds from the education sector.

He also urged the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to conduct a special audit of the education governance in Langkat, especially regarding procurement, headmaster mutation, and projects in the Education Office.

Meanwhile, criminal law observer Abdul Fickar Hadjar assessed that the alleged corruption in Lamgkat showed that the practice was allegedly carried out systematically.

Therefore, he asked law enforcement officers to investigate the case consistently until all parties involved were processed.

"So in fact, this means a veteran player. The law must be upheld properly and consistently. Other evil acts can be a reason for weighting, both in the investigation and in the trial. Restorative justice is not relevant to apply to people like this," said Fickar through a short message, Sunday.

According to him, the education sector indeed has a high vulnerability to corruption practices because it uses budgets sourced from the APBN and APBD.

Therefore, public supervision must be strengthened so that irregularities can be prevented from the start.

"Any field whose financing relies on the potential APBN/APBD is a target for corruption. Therefore, public supervision must be given a special place, especially regarding the field of education which is the need of many people, especially the lower middle class," he said.

He explained that the use of education budget is also difficult to measure directly its success.

Fickar said that as long as learning and teaching activities continued, the use of the budget was often considered complete without measuring the improvement in the quality of students, thus opening up room for deviation.

"The field of education with state funding is a field that does not require real proof of the results of financing. As long as there are classes that run without taking into account the results, namely the intelligence of the students after education, it is considered complete. Therefore, the potential for corruption is very large," he said.