Rp 500 Trilun Expenditures For Meetings And Banding Studies, Menpan-RB Clarification

PANRB Minister Abdullah Azwar Anas, in Jakarta, Friday (27/01) at the PermenPANRB Socialization event No. 1/2023 concerning Functional Positions. (Menpan-RB)

JAKARTA - Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Menpan-RB) Abdullah Azwar Anas straightened out the issue of the Rp500 trillion poverty alleviation budget just for meetings and comparative studies.

Anas explained that not all of the budgets referred to were used for meetings and comparative studies only.

"So, after we sort out, there are a number of agencies, especially in some areas, whose poverty programs have not fully impacted optimally. For example, there are comparative studies about poverty, there are repeated termination of poverty programs in hotels. The fact is that there are, but not approximately Rp. 500 trillion has been spent for comparative and meeting studies," said Anas as quoted from the Kemenpan-RB website, Sunday, January 29.

Anas emphasized that the direction of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) clearly requested that the existing budget be spent on the right target for programs that have a direct impact on residents.

He then gave an example of his ministry, which receives guests from various regions every day to consult on the bureaucratic reform index and the Government Agencies Performance Accountability System (SAKIP) which contains indicators of the poverty program.

"Like last week, we received the ranks of the Regency Government from Sumatra and Kalimantan very far away from their regions, to consult on thematic bureaucratic reform of poverty. There are 5-10 people from the local government. That is only one local government. Every day 10 local governments come. How much has it cost," he added.

Anas said the strategy to save is by consulting online.

"It is better if the budget is diverted to increase the allocation of empowerment which directly has an impact on the community," he said.

Anas explained that the statement regarding the poverty budget was conveyed during the socialization of new policies regarding functional positions in a hybrid manner in ministries/agencies and local governments.

He said at that time the context was to build a logical framework on reform of the thematic bureaucracy for poverty alleviation. At that time Anas explained the local government's logical framework on poverty alleviation must be focused.

"That's when I said there was a government agency program that had not been aligned. The goal was to reduce poverty, but some of the programs were comparative and disseminated studies or poverty program socialization meetings. So, not all budgets for comparative or meeting studies, but some of them, so they are not fully in line with the objectives," said Anas.

"There are also those who want to reduce stunting, but their activities are nutrition socialization, on the other hand, food purchases for babies are not even allocated," he concluded.

Previously, Anas' statement that said the poverty alleviation budget of IDR 500 trillion was exhausted only for meetings and comparative studies drew criticism, including from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the DPR.