Head Of Geruduk Region Of The Ministry Of Finance After TKD Was Cut, Commission II Of The DPR Alludes To Creativeity And Sincerity Of Leaders

Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin/PHOTO: Nailin In Saroh-VOI

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission III of the House of Representatives, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, responded to the steps taken by a number of governors who 'disrupted' the Ministry of Finance's office to meet with the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive, regarding the cutting of transfer funds to the regions (TKD) in the 2026 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget Draft (RAPBN).

Zulfikar assessed that the cut in TKD funds required the local government to be creative in increasing regional income.

"Based on the existing rules, the Regional Government Law, including the HKPD Law, does provide space for the regions to have more financial resources. Actually, that's the case," said Zulfikar at the DPR building, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, October 9.

"But we are talking about the existence of the law. And we have actually tried the DPR RI through the discussion of the 2026 RAPBN which has been decided so that the area has additional transfers to the regions. How much is there? About 50 or 40 (trillion rupiah, ed) how much is it? Hopefully it can be shared with the regions based on the needs of regional capabilities," he continued.

Zulfikar understands what regional heads feel. However, according to him, there is still a way to make regional fiscal stronger. For example, optimizing or maximizing local taxes and levies.

"There is still a lot of potential that we can explore from there. Maybe from the governance side, we need to fix it, which has been leaked frequently. Pak Prabowo always says that. Then shopping is also often leaked, so how come it doesn't happen again," explained Zulfikar.

Then regional heads are also encouraged to rationalize and make programs and policies more effective and dig up alternative financing.

"There are many, it can be through the cooperation of the PPPP business community, Public-private partnerships. Then we can also update BUMD. All regions have BUMDs. But why can't BUMD be a lever for regional economy and finance? Why," he said.

According to the head of the commission for domestic governance, each region has the potential so that regional heads need to develop their respective regional potentials and present investments.

"So there are many steps we can take, there are still many ways to Mecca and behind difficulties there are conveniences. It's just a matter of reading what the regional head is like to the area," said Zulfikar.

"Innovation is needed, need to be creative, and sincerity is needed in leading," he concluded.

Previously, a number of governors from various provinces who were members of the Association of Indonesian Provincial Governments (APPSI) expressed their objection to the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive, regarding the cutting of transfer funds to the regions (TKD) in the 2026 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget Draft (RAPBN).

For information, the TKD allocation in the 2026 RAPBN is planned at IDR 692,995 trillion, or a decrease of around 24.7 percent compared to the previous year which reached IDR 919.9 trillion. This means that there is a cut of around IDR 226.9 trillion.

As many as 24 governors and deputy governors were present at the Head Office of the Ministry of Finance, Jakarta, to voice their aspirations.

The regional heads who attended included Jambi, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, Bangka Belitung Islands, Banten, Riau Islands, Central Java, Central Sulawesi, North Maluku, West Sumatra, DI Yogyakarta, Mountains Papua, Bengkulu, Aceh, North Sumatra, Lampung, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, Southwest Papua, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Java, Gorontalo, and South Sumatra.