Member of the House of Representatives from the Gerindra Faction, Azis Subekti, highlighted the growth of the Indonesian economy amid global pressure. According to him, the debate on the face of the Indonesian economy today feels like two mirrors facing each other: one reflects the seemingly solid macro figures, the other reflects the daily experience that feels different from the achievement of the figures.
"Between the two, the public stands, not always reading economic reports, but is very sensitive when the price of rice and other basic commodities slowly rises. On the one hand, the voice of the government, which is often conveyed by Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, shows the foundation of Indonesia's economy is relatively stable," said Azis Subekti in his statement, Monday, April 27.
"Economic growth has remained at around 5 percent. Inflation is under control at around 2.5-3 percent. The government's debt ratio to GDP is in the range of 38-40 percent, still far below many other countries. Foreign exchange reserves are sufficient to finance more than half a year of imports. In the language of technocrats, this is a 'fine' economy," he continued.
Similar assessments have also come from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Azis said Indonesia was considered quite resilient to global pressures, although it was still overshadowed by classic homework, stagnant productivity, dependence on commodities, keeping the domestic market from contraband goods and unresolved inequality.
"However, the economy is not only read in numbers. In markets, in small stalls, in middle-class households, the stories that are heard are often different. Inflation of 3 percent may sound low, but when the prices of rice, eggs, and chili rise faster than that, it feels not stability, but pressure. Statistically, purchasing power may be 'maintained', but in practice, many families have started to reduce the quality of consumption, not because of choice, but rather to come to terms with the situation," he said.
At this point, according to Azis, the debate becomes blurred. "Is our economy doing well, or is it actually being held back. But there is a layer of reality that is rarely recorded and is actually important, often forgotten in this debate," he said.
"In the village, the economy is not always calculated from transactions, but from the ability to survive. A farmer does not sell all his harvest. Some are saved. In the yard, chili, spinach, carrots, cassava grow. Next to the house, there is a small cage containing chickens. In the back, a simple pond with catfish or catfish. Sometimes in the midst of his busy schedule, villagers go fishing in the river or reservoir to eat for themselves, more of it is sold to their neighbors. Not all of it goes to the market. Not all of it is recorded in the GDP. But that's where a family eats, day after day, even when prices outside rise," continued Azis.
The member of Commission II of the DPR said that data provided an important clue to reading this reality more clearly. The agricultural sector only contributes around 12-13 percent to the national GDP, but absorbs around 27-30 percent of the workforce.
"This is not just a number, it is a mirror of productivity inequality, as well as proof that villages are still the largest social cushion when other sectors are turbulent. Around 40 percent of Indonesians still live in rural areas, with a poverty rate that is statistically higher than in cities, but in many cases, more resistant to food shocks because they have direct access to production sources. This is where we find something that often escapes policy design:
"This is not a planned resilience, but inherited," he said.
Azis assessed that the tradition of farming, breeding, and managing yards is not merely an economic activity but is a survival system that has been tested across generations. When global supply chains are disrupted and prices soar, he said, villages do not completely collapse, but adapt and survive.
"Ironically, this power is often treated as a relic of the past, not as a foundation for the future. In fact, if read carefully, that is the starting point for development that needs to be improved," he said.
"Imagine if this approach is not allowed to run on its own, but is systematically strengthened. Abandoned lands, which in various estimates reach millions of hectares, can be turned into village production bases. The symbiosis scheme is not only a traditional practice, but is designed as a modern production system: rice or corn is adjacent to horticulture, supported by small livestock, strengthened with inland fisheries. One land, many sources of life. But the key to all of this is not just land, but the willingness of policies to go deeper," continued the Gerindra Legislator from the Central Java constituency.
In this condition, Azis assessed, the state is not enough to be present as a regulator but must be an enabler. "Imagine a concrete model: the Mandiri Village Food Cluster. One village, one production cluster based on local potential. The state enters not with disposable aid, but with structured financing: low-interest production loans from upstream to downstream (through schemes such as KUR that are sharpened), the provision of superior seeds and appropriate technology, data-based production assistance, to guarantee market access through village cooperatives or BUMDes that are digitally connected," he explained.
On the other hand, said the member of the commission which deals with domestic governance and land, agrarian reform does not stop at land redistribution, but continues to activate land. The land that is distributed must be alive, planted, managed, and connected to the market. Without it, said Azis, agrarian reform will only be a number in a success report.
"Of course we must not be naive. The obstacles are real: slow bureaucracy, consolidation of the central government to the smallest unit of government that is not solid, unresolved agrarian conflicts, access to financing that is still too formal for small farmers, to long and often unfair distribution chains. But it is precisely there that the seriousness of the policy is tested. Because if the village is only asked to survive without being strengthened, then we are letting that resilience wear out slowly," he said.
"On the other hand, if he is strengthened, the impact is not small. We not only maintain food security, but also create local employment, hold back unhealthy urbanization, and maintain purchasing power from the most basic side: the availability of food itself," Azis added.
If numbers and feelings continue to go their own way, Azis added, then what is born is a paradox. A country that appears strong on paper, but feels tired in the lives of its citizens. "And that's where our biggest work actually begins, not proving who is the most right, but ensuring that the truth can be felt," he concluded.
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