JAKARTA - How could Finance Minister Sri Mulyani cut the budget for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The budget cuts were made to support the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as well. What is the importance of dealing with COVID-19? Sri Mulyani doesn't seem aware that the MPR leaders need money. Let's try to understand the concerns of the MPR leaders.
MPR leader Fadel Muhammad stated that a meeting had been held to discuss the MPR's declining budget. He considered the MPR budget in 2022 to be inadequate.
Fadel, of course had his reasons, didn't he? What if the budget reduction by the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) interferes with the work of the MPR?
"We are talking with President Jokowi in Bogor. We ask the President that our budget is limited now. In the past, there were only four people. Now how come ten people have dropped more?" Fadel said in a press conference, quoted on Wednesday, December 1.
Oh, we were wrong. It's not about work or programs. It turned out that the case of the number of MPR leaders from four to ten. And the decrease in the budget is something that Fadel and other MPR leaders cannot accept.
Researcher of the Indonesian Parliamentary Concerned Society Forum (Formappi) Lucius Karius highlighted the substance of the protest raised by Fadel. For Lucius, protesting against the budget cuts allocated for handling the pandemic is wrong. Moreover, the reason for the protest is egoistic.
"Yes. Precisely because his protest points are not substantive, it makes Fadel's protest more visible as something that seems egoistic," said Lucius to VOI, Wednesday, December 1.
"So for me, when I realized the conditions that were being faced by the nation in the midst of this pandemic, the complaints and anger of the MPR over their reduced budget actually showed the face of the MPR which did not care about the people, only selfish."
Lucius failed to understand. Such as Sri Mulyani and the Ministry of Finance who are more concerned with handling the COVID-19 pandemic than the ideal figure for the MPR budget in the head of Fadel and his colleagues.
MPR asks Jokowi to fire Sri Mulyani
The MPR's anger at Sri Mulyani grew even more because the Minister of Finance often canceled her attendance at meetings with the MPR. This was conveyed by the Chairman of the MPR Bambang Soesatyo (Bamsoet) and the Chairman of the MPR Fadel Muhammad.
"The MPR leadership met with the finance minister, we invited him, everything had been set, suddenly he canceled two days later, arranged again, he canceled," said Fadel Muhammad.
Meanwhile, Bamsoet said that Sri Mulyani was the Minister of Finance who could not be invited to cooperate. Not only that. Bamsoet also considered that Sri Mulyani did not respect the MPR, the institution she leads.
"He has been invited several times by the leadership of the MPR, Sri Mulyani never came. Two days before being invited to a meeting, she always canceled her attendance. This shows that Sri Mulyani does not respect the MPR as a high state institution," said Bambang.
Back to Fadel. The Golkar Party politician then asked President Jokowi to fire Sri Mulyani, whom he considered unethical and incompetent to regulate government policies.
"The MPR is a high state institution, we ask that it get fair treatment, compared to others," said Fadel.
Sri Mulyani herself has answered the reason for not attending the meetings with the MPR. According to Sri Mulyani, she received two invitations from the MPR. First on 27 July. The second is 28 September. According to Sri Mulyani, the two invitations clashed with other meetings: an internal meeting with President Jokowi and a DPR Budget Board meeting to discuss the APBN.
"Twice invitations on July 27 2021 coincided with the President's internal meeting which had to be attended, so that the presence at the MPR was represented by a deputy minister," Sri Mulyani said in an Instagram upload, Wednesday, December 1.
Sri Mulyani also responded to the MPR's protest. He explained that in determining the budget, at least four refocusing had been carried out. And it is evenly distributed across ministries and agencies. Budget refocusing is carried out to assist the handling of COVID-19 in the country. Budget refocusing is also for wage subsidies for the poor and small business actors as well as increasing receipts of social assistance. Sri Mulyani also refused to be called disrespectful to the MPR as a state institution.
MPR budget and what is it for
The 2022 MPR budget allocation is set at IDR 695.7 billion, an increase of 5.89 percent from the 2021 MPR spending outlook: IDR 657 billion. On September 30, the Draft Law (RUU) of the State Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 was ratified through the sixth plenary session of the DPR during the first session of Session Year 2021-2022.
Prior to its ratification, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had also read out the 2022 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN). The readings were made during the annual assembly of the MPR and the President of the Republic of Indonesia's state speech on August 18 yesterday.
Launching CNBC, the MPR budget from 2017 to 2021 has consistently fluctuated. fluctuating. In 2017, the MPR received a budget allocation of Rp814.5 billion, which later rose to Rp899 billion in 2018.
In 2019, the MPR budget fell again to IDR 887.3 billion, before falling again in 2020 to IDR 702.4 billion. In Book II of the Financial Note and the State Budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year, it is explained that there will be a change in the composition of the MPR leadership in 2020.
From the original eight people to ten people, accompanied by additional elements of leadership support. This is in accordance with Law Number 17 of 2019 concerning MD3 (MPR, DPR, DPD, and DPRD).
In 2021, the APBN allocation for the MPR will increase by 6.9 percent to Rp750.9 billion. However, the allocation is actually accompanied by notes, namely by paying attention to the development of conditions in 2021 in order to secure the national vaccination program and handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another note of consideration is also paying attention to budgetary support for social protection for the community and accelerating national economic recovery. With all these records, a refocusing and reallocation of the MPR ceiling was carried out in the amount of Rp. 19.2 billion.
So at that time the outlook was estimated to be IDR 657 billion. In the 2022 State Budget, the MPR's budget allocation then increases by 5.89 percent from the 2021 outlook which is Rp. 695.7 billion.
What about the absorption of the budget and the implementation of the MPR's work related to the budget? Formappi researcher Lucius Karius views the MPR as having to look in the mirror. This protest is not only ethically wrong. Even if you look at the actual performance of the MPR, this protest is even more inappropriate.
"What is the MPR trying to do and what has been produced so that the state needs to provide additional budget for them? Talking about constitutional amendments has no clear end. The MPR can only provoke without a clear end."
"Speaking of the socialization of the four pillars is the same. I don't know what the benefits of this activity are. It has been several years that the socialization budget has been budgeted for the MPR. What can be called as a result of their socialization?
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