Puan Accompanied By Ganjar Attends PAPDESI National Working Meeting

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (Dok DPR Photo)

JAKARTA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, attended the PAPDESI national working meeting (Rakernas). He emphasized the DPR's commitment with the Government to immediately ratify the revision of Law (RUU) Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages which will play a role in village development for a long time.

The PAPDESI National Working Meeting was held at the Smesco Convention Hall, Smesco Building, Jakarta, on Tuesday, September 26 with the theme "Encourage the Government to Immediately Ratify the limited revision of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages".

Apart from Puan, this event was also attended by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of PAPDESI, Ganjar Pranowo and the Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly. Hundreds of regional heads participated in the PAPDESI Second National Working Meeting.

"The spirit of limited revision of Law Number 16 of 2014 concerning Villages needs to be placed in order to realize the vision and mission of making the Village the subject of development," said Puan.

Puan explained, to create an even national development, special attention is needed for regional and village development. Puan said that this spirit is part of advancing Indonesia.

"With Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages, Villages are the subject of development, which includes the Implementation of Village Governments, Village Development, Village Community Development, and Village Community Empowerment," he said.

The revision of the Village Law which has been agreed to become the Village Bill (RUU) is currently entering the discussion stage with the Government before it is finally promulgated.

Many changes in the Village Law proposed by the DPR have been approved by the Government. Even so, there are still a number of things that need to be discussed, including the matter of extending the term of office of the village head and the amount of increasing village funds.

Puan emphasized that the DPR together with the Government are committed to immediately ratifying the Village Bill for the sake of improving village development. However, he asked the public to be patient because the DPR and the Government still need to find the best formula that can accommodate the interests of all parties.

"There are no plans to detain, there are no plans to hinder it. The DPR wants to ensure that the most important thing is that the Village Law can be useful for rural communities," explained Puan.

As one of the subjects of development, the village is said to have its own advantages and diversity. Therefore, the DPR took the initiative to revise the Village Law.

"Village arrangements are expected to preserve and advance customs, traditions and culture of the village community. Then encourage initiative, movement and participation of the village community," said Puan.

The DPR views that it takes the role of village government officials to form a professional, efficient and effective, open, and responsible village head and other village officials.

Puan also said that village government officials are required to be able to run the Village Government which can improve public services for the community so as to accelerate the realization of public welfare.

"It is also necessary to increase the social resilience of the culture of the village community, so that the village community is able to maintain social unity as part of national resilience, advance the economy of the village community and overcome the national development gap," said the former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture.

Furthermore, Puan said that the law can provide greater room for village community participation in village development efforts. Village governments are also reminded to fulfill the rights of rural communities such as the right to request and obtain information from the Village Government, the right to supervise the activities of the Village Government, the right to obtain services and the right to convey aspirations.

"The Village Government apparatus must be able to provide services to the community in ways that are assessed by simplicity, clarity, completeness of facilities and infrastructure, discipline, politeness and hospitality and comfort," said Puan.

Puan then detailed that the village funds disbursed from 2015 to 2023 had reached IDR 528 trillion. Puan said the funds were to build basic infrastructure in villages, community empowerment, and improve people's welfare.

"So the use of Village Funds in the future must focus more on the task of the Village Government in organizing Village Governments to serve the village community," he said.