Sri Mulyani Considers Probolinggo Regent's Corruption As An Enemy: 1 of 5 Residents Are Still Poor!

Probolinggo Regent Puput Tantriana Sari and her husband who is also a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Hasan Aminuddin (Photo: KPK RI Public Relations)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani gave her views on the alleged corruption case in the practice of buying and selling positions involving the Regent of Probolinggo Puput Tantriana Sari. In fact, the Minister of Finance said that the actions taken by Puput were like an enemy that must be eradicated.

"Corruption is the MAIN ENEMY and the JOINT ENEMY in achieving the goal of achieving just prosperity", he said via his personal Instagram page @smindrawati on Saturday, September 4.

It is only natural that the Minister of Finance is angry. This is because the state treasurer knows very well every penny of state money that flows to all regions in Indonesia, including Probolinggo.

As a form of disappointment with government administrators who are not trustworthy, Sri Mulyani then gives an idea of how much funds have flowed to Probolinggo to this day.

“The number of financial transfers from the state budget (APBN) to Probolinggo Regency from 2012-2021 has reached IDR 15.2 trillion. (Initially) from IDR 959 billion in 2012 to IDR 1.857 trillion in 2021”, she said.

“The total village funds from 2015-2021 have reached IDR 2.15 trillion for 325 villages. Each village received an average of IDR 291 million in 2015, which then rose 3.5 times to IDR 1.32 billion in 2021”, she continued.

In order to open the eyes and conscience of the corruptors who eat people's money, the Minister of Finance then revealed the facts on the ground that actually happened.

“Children under 2 years of age who are undernourished (stunting) increased from 21.99 percent in 2015 to 34.04 percent in 2019. (That means) 3.5 out of 10 children are malnourished!” she insisted.

“Open unemployment rose from 2.89 percent in 2015 to 4.86 percent in 2021. Then, poverty fell by 20.98 percent in 2015 to 18.61 percent in 2020. Almost one in 5 people are still poor! Then, the HDI (Human Development Index) of 64.12 percent in 2015 rose to 66.07 percent in 2020", said the Minister of Finance.

To note, in the 2021 State Budget Law it is stated that the total state expenditure this year is IDR 2.750 trillion.

Of this figure, as much as IDR 795.5 trillion is a budget that is channeled to the regions through the transfer mechanism to the regions and village funds (TKDD).

In fact, the very large amount of state expenditure can only be covered by the revenue sector which is projected at IDR 1.743.6 trillion. That means the state must cover a budget deficit of around IDR 1.000 trillion, which comes from financing or debt.