96.85 Percent Budget Absorption, Menbud Promotes National History and Cultural Diplomacy 2026

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon. at the DPR RI explains the absorption of the budget. (IST)

JAKARTA - Minister of Culture Fadli Zon explained the performance achievements and strategic agenda of the Ministry of Culture in a Working Meeting with Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Wednesday (21/1). Until the end of 2025, the budget realization reached 96.85 percent of the ceiling of Rp. 2.58 trillion, while non-tax state revenues (PNBP) penetrated Rp. 69.69 billion or 121.09 percent of the target.

"We keep this achievement so that spending really has a direct impact on the protection, development, and utilization of culture," said Fadli.

He revealed that the national Cultural Development Index (IPK) in 2024 was at 59.98. According to him, the IPK is an important instrument for reading the cultural condition as well as the basis for policy correction. "The IPK methodology provides an objective picture of the position of national culture and its direction for improvement," he said.

Throughout 2025, the Ministry of Culture has designated 514 Indonesian Intangible Cultural Heritage, bringing the total to 2,727, and adding 85 National Cultural Heritage Sites with a total of 313 sites. Fadli emphasized the need for coordination between the center and the regions. "The potential of our cultural heritage is great. Don't let it go unrecorded and unprotected just because of administrative constraints," he said.

In the field of history, the ministry has completed the Indonesian History Book with a thickness of almost 8,000 pages written by 123 writers from 45 institutions and launched in December 2025. In 2026, the writing of history will continue with a focus on the period 1945-1950 and the history of the kingdom, accompanied by the digitization of local history books.

Cultural diplomacy is also strengthened through the nomination of cultural heritage to UNESCO and the repatriation of artifacts, including Eugene Dubois fossils and the Puspatara Statue from the United States. In the creative culture sector, the number of Indonesian film audiences in 2025 exceeds 80 million people.

Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives appreciates this achievement, but encourages the writing of history to provide more space for regional history. Closing the meeting, Fadli stated that all DPR inputs would be followed up as a basis for work in 2026.