Ministry Of Home Affairs Affirms Regional Development Must Be Integrated National Development

Suhajar Diantoro/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Secretary-General (Sekjen) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) Suhajar Diantoro emphasized that regional development must be integrated with national development.

"So regional development must be in line with national development," said Suhajar in a statement received in Jakarta Thursday, March 31.

Regional development, he said, refers to the authority for concurrent government affairs which has been handed over to the provincial government, district government, and city government.

He explained that the decentralization policy has given wide autonomy to local governments, both provincial and district, and city. The regional autonomy policy, he continued, contains the submission of concurrent government affairs, both mandatory and optional, to the regional government.

The governor, as the representative of the central government, must play a role in coordinating the achievement of development targets at the district and city levels, he stressed.

"So our framework for thinking about musrenbang (deliberation on development plans) and its content is based on the submission of concurrent government affairs," explained the former Chancellor of the Institute for Domestic Administration (IPDN).

In addition, according to him, in the preparation of the 2023 Regional Government Work Plan (RKPD) the regional government needs to pay attention to a number of aspects, including the latest regulations, the latest policies, such as efforts to accelerate stunting reduction, and reduce extreme poverty.

Local governments must also pay attention to planning documents, developing strategic issues, the results of technical coordination meetings for central and provincial development planning, as well as various other important aspects.

He mentioned two essences of the implementation of the musrenbang held by the provincial government. First, the Musrenbang is a forum to test the fidelity and consistency of the work plans of regional officials to the regional medium-term development plans (RPJMD) drawn up by the governor and deputy governor.

Second, the musrenbang is a forum to test the quality of understanding of regents and mayors and their staff towards the provincial Regional Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMD).

This understanding is assessed from the suitability of the regents and mayors' proposals in the musrenbang with the provincial RPJMD, considering that the submitted proposals are the result of the district and city musrenbang, he said.