Investigating Five 'Fictional Villages' In Southeast Sulawesi

Director General of Village Government Development of the Ministry of Home Affairs Nata Irawan when explaining the investigation team for the handling of a fictional village (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs; Ministry of Finance; as well as the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Areas, and Transmigration; conducted studies on a number of villages which were called fictitious. Among them, villages in Konawe District, Southeast Sulawesi.

The team numbered 13 people and worked on October 15-17. They conducted a study to five villages which were called fictitious villages. However, the names of the five villages have been kept secret.

The Director General of Village Government Development at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nata Irawan, explained that the team's study stated that the village they visited was not a fictitious one, but a village that was in the process of administrative restructuring. He added that these five villages existed before the issuance of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages.

This law regulates the conditions for the formation of villages. As a derivative of this law, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a Permendagri on village arrangement which one of the conditions is to include the number of residents.

Nata explained that the joint team was investigating the flow of village funds that went into there. However, he could not explain the results of the team's study because it was still incomplete. When the Ministry of Home Affairs discovers that there is misappropriation of village funds, firm action will be taken.

"If it is a legal issue, of course, law enforcement officials will take steps, but indeed if there is something wrong with the administration, we can assure you that we will withdraw the village. We can assure you that the problem is true," he said.

Previously, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati revealed that the emergence of new villages was due to the village fund budget. Based on the reports he received, many new, unpopulated villages were formed so that village funds were disbursed.

"We heard some input because of the steady transfer from the state budget, so that now there are new villages that are not even populated, just to get (village funds)," said Sri Mulyani in front of members of Commission XI DPR, Jakarta, Monday, November 4.