Calls Fadel-Sri Mulyani Chaotic Communication Problems, Secretary General Of The People's Consultative Assembly Opens Up Other Institutions Budgets To Increase During The Pandemic

Deputy Chairperson of the MPR Fadel Muhamad (mpr.go.id)

JAKARTA - The Secretary General (Sekjen) of the MPR RI Ma'ruf Cahyono straightened out the chaos that occurred between the Deputy Chair of the MPR Fadel Muhamad and the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

According to him, the problem is not related to the budget, but the problem of communication and coordination related to institutional tasks.

This was said by Ma'ruf as well as responding to the statement of the Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa who stated that the MPR RI leadership had the wrong address when accusing Sri Mulyani of cutting the budget. The reason is that it was Bappenas that cut the budget.

Ma'ruf claimed that the MPR did not question the budget cuts, whether the Minister of Planning/Bappenas was the planner or the Minister of Finance who did have the authority as regulated by law.

Because according to him, the debate was over when the hammer was knocked at the DPR and the Dipa 2022 was received directly by the Chair of the MPR at the Palace along with the heads of other institutions and ministries.

"Hopefully the chairman of the MPR, after his meeting with the Minister of Finance in Bali, no one will try to confuse the situation. Because the leadership of the MPR and the Minister of Finance have agreed to meet in an official forum. The meeting will discuss various things, in particular to increase the synergy between the MPR RI and Ministry of Finance," said Ma'ruf, Wednesday, December 8.

In addition, Ma'ruf explained that the MPR RI was not too concerned about refocusing the MPR RI budget. Because he said, the decline in the MPR RI budget had taken place before the COVID-19 pandemic.

With details, in 2018 the MPR RI budget was IDR 1.04 trillion, decreasing to IDR 958.4 billion in 2019. In 2020, the MPR budget was again cut to IDR 800.5 billion and fell again to IDR 777.2 billion in 2021.

"Next year, the MPR RI will only get a budget of IDR 695.7 billion and the MPR is also ready to reserve a budget of 5 percent from the 2022 ceiling of IDR 35 billion and continue to support the government's performance in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and national economic recovery. We don't have a problem," he explained.

However, Ma'ruf revealed that not all institutions/ministries experienced a budget decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the budget of the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas will actually increase in 2022 to Rp1.375 trillion from the previous year's Rp1.060 trillion. The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) also rose to Rp44.012 trillion in 2022, from Rp43.020 trillion in 2021.

In fact, said Ma'ruf, the DPR RI and DPD RI, whose offices are the same as the MPR RI, also experienced an increase in budget.

"The DPR RI has increased from Rp. 5.492 trillion in 2021 to Rp. 5.564 trillion in 2022. The DPD RI's budget has also increased from Rp. 983.2 billion in 2021 to Rp. 987 billion in 2022. The MPR does not question the existence of institutions or ministries. The budget actually increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MPR RI, which consists of 575 DPR members and 136 DPD members, is still ready to support the government in maintaining the continuity of participatory development," said Ma'ruf.

Previously, the Deputy Chair of the MPR RI, Fadel Muhammad, admitted that he was annoyed with the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani who broke her promise to support the four-pillar socialization program because she often cut the budget. However, recently, many people have also been disappointed with the performance of the finance minister for the two periods.

The MPR leader from the DPD RI element assessed that the pressure to remove Sri Mulyani from her position was something that President Jokowi needed to consider. The reason, said Fadel, is that the Minister of Finance's policies and programs in stabilizing state finances are also not very good.

Even Fadel also admitted that he received many reports from ministers who complained about Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani in managing state finances.

"There are some friends who also conveyed the conflict, the conflict between the minister and the finance minister is very sharp in the current cabinet. They all conveyed and all those present were the leaders of political parties," said Fadel, Tuesday, November 30.

"This is all we ask for the president to stop removing the minister of finance because he is not competent in regulating existing government policies," he said.