Mendes Yandri: Spending On Problems In West Bandung To See Village Conditions

Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions Yandri Susanto after visiting the Kertamulya Village office, West Bandung. (Photo: ANTARA)

WEST BANDUNG - Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (PDT) Yandri Susanto revealed that he carried out a Problem Shopping activity in West Bandung on Friday, to come down to see the real conditions in the district villages.

During his visit, Yandri was accompanied by the Presidential Special Envoy for the Development of the Young Generation and Art Workers, Raffi Ahmad.

"With Problem Expenditures, we can see the potential, such as success stories. Well, I see that in West Bandung, from 165 villages, there are 100 independent villages and 65 developed villages. This means that West Bandung is extraordinary and I want to replicate this for other villages, such as Kertamuria Village, there is culinary tourism," Yandri said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, November 16.

In addition to the questions above, said Yandri, Kertamulia Village, which has this aspiration space, will become something he will try to transmit to other areas.

"Also in West Bandung, I see the cohesiveness of people who really want to progress is extraordinary. I see they maximize the existing potential. We want to transmit these various things in other villages," he said.

TIP Becomes Attention

On that occasion, Yandri also said that his party highlighted and anticipated the rise of cases of criminal trafficking in persons (TPPO) in West Bandung.

The reason is, West Bandung Regency is the largest contributor to the largest number of illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) besides Banten and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

In anticipating and tackling it, Yandri said the first step taken by his party was to map villages that supply the largest illegal PMIs besides Banten and NTT.

"The number of illegal PMIs in West Bandung is also large. Therefore, I will cooperate with the Minister of Migrant Energy Protection. Later we will cooperate so that how people in the village are no longer victims of TIP," he said.

Yandri assessed that this was important considering that West Java was an area where his party was highlighting the rampant TIP cases.

"Indramayu and Bandung are also the largest suppliers of PMI abroad," he said.

Previously, the Head of Training, Productivity, Placement, Manpower, and Transmigration (P3TKT) of the KBB Manpower Office, Dewi Andani, said that the rampant number of TIP cases at KBB was triggered by low public education and high economic pressure.

According to him, West Bandung residents have no choice when they are in a state of shortness or hit by debt problems, either to moneylenders or online loans.

And that choice was taken because there was the lure of a big salary or a down payment.

Based on his search, residents went abroad to become PMI because they were given an initial down payment of between Rp. 5-10 million for the families left behind.

"The majority of the residents of West Bandung who become illegal PMIs come from the South covering Cihampelas, Cililin, Sindangkerta, Saguling, Rongga, and Gununghalu sub-districts," he said.