Faisal Basri: Compared To Increasing BPJS Health Contribution, Better To Press The Budget Of The Ministry Of Defense

Capture the screen of Senior Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Economist Faisal Basri. (Mery Handayani / VOI)

JAKARTA - Senior Economist of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Faisal Basri said that instead of increasing BPJS Health fees, the government could reduce a number of ministry budgets for handling the coronavirus or COVID-19. One of them is the budget for the Ministry of Defense.

According to Faisal, currently there is no urgency that Indonesia will go to war, so the budget allocation for goods to modernize defense equipment can be postponed. So, the budget can be reduced to the drinking figure, namely Rp. 50 trillion. Because, currently Indonesia is facing an invisible enemy.

"I see that the priorities have not shown a sense of urgency, that this crisis could be even worse than 2008. So in the midst of such conditions, what we are fighting is the ghost of the virus. But the defense budget has only been reduced from Rp. 131 trillion to Rp. 122 trillion. This is extraordinary. "he said, in an online discussion with the theme 'COVID-19 and Economic Stimulus', Wednesday, May 13.

Faisal said the government might still optimize the budgets of other ministries to help deal with COVID-19. So, according to him, there is no need to be in debt.

"So please, if we really are in crisis, the minimum defense budget is maybe Rp. 50 trillion. From there we can get Rp. 70 trillion. So don't make more debt, first consolidate it," he explained.

Not only can the Ministry of Defense budget be trimmed, Faisal said, the PUPR Ministry can still save money to help the government deal with the impact of COVID-19. One of them is by postponing big projects, such as the construction of a new capital city.

"In fact, none of these have been rescheduled. The capital city project continues whatever happens. This is extraordinary, no country is this brave," he said.

Furthermore, Faisal said, the PUPR Ministry could focus on labor-intensive projects. So that it can help urban and rural communities. For example, by repairing roads in the village, or repairing sewers.

"What do we want to build? What we want to save is the human being, not the physical. PUPR has only lowered its budget from Rp120 trillion to Rp95.6 trillion. So we can again get Rp50 trillion from there, the rest is for this PUPR which is all labor-intensive projects," he explained.

Then, said Faisal, additional funds could be obtained by the government by cutting the budget of the Ministry of Religion, Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Finance.

"This virus will be finished with preaching? Isn't it not. The Ministry of Religion was only cut from Rp65 trillion to Rp62.4 trillion. Then the Ministry of Transportation Rp.43.5 trillion to Rp37 trillion. Then, the Ministry of Finance Rp.43.5 trillion to 41 trillion," he said.

According to Faisal, in these difficult conditions these ministries only cut their budget slightly, which is no different from savings during normal conditions. In fact, if the government wants to save more, the funds that will be collected for the handling of this ministry's budget reallocation are large.

"The cut is trivial, it seems like in normal circumstances asking for savings, which is what has been done so far. So this does not reflect the government's urgent condition. I am concerned that what is being thought is debt first, not business before, not frugality first, "he said.