Often Calls Not Knowing The Allocation Of The DKI Regional Budget, Acting Governor Heru Asked To Understand Budget Flows While Serving

Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Wednesday, January 11. (Diah-VOI)

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about budget allocations in the 2023 APBD, such as the procurement of official cars for the Governor of DKI to the rehabilitation of official residences.

However, when asked about the budget, Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono admitted that he did not know about it. Instead, he handed over the responsibility of the budget explanation to his subordinates.

A public policy observer from Trisakti University, Trubus Rahadiansyah, assessed that Heru could not only rely on the ranks of the DKI Provincial Government in the preparation and implementation of the budget, even though he was only appointed as Acting Governor in October 2022, at which time the budget preparation had been running.

"This governor should be a leader, indeed managerially he must know what the budget allocations are for, he must know. Even though he is not in detail, he must know. So if you say you don't know, this will be strange," Trubus said when contacted by VOI, Monday, March 20.

Heru did have time to breakthrough the government's program which had been stalled so far, such as the continuation of the construction of the Ciliwung Sodetan and the normalization of Ciliwung. However, that is not enough.

Trubus gave an example, when faced with the problem of the Pertamina Plumpang depot fire that spread to residential areas, Heru did not have a clear solution to facilitate long-term housing for fire victims.

"Even when the Plumpang depot fire case, he didn't do anything. Only handed over the solution to Pertamina. In fact, it was the governor's job to complete the long-term solution for the housing needs of residents, especially victims whose houses were affected by the fire," said Tribus.

"Besides, he doesn't have a campaign burden. Pak Heru should be able to relocate residents to a better place, rather side with the affected communities with the existing budget," he said.

As is known, the DKI Provincial Government plans to purchase an operational service vehicle (KDO) branded Hyundai Ioniq 5 Signature to Heru. This electric service car has been planned to be budgeted in the 2023 APBD to follow up on President Joko Widodo's instructions.

In addition, the DKI Provincial Government will also buy an official car for Heru. When he was initially asked about this, Heru admitted that he did not know. Not long after, his subordinates finally explained that this official car was purchased because Heru had not yet received vehicle facilities from the DKI Provincial Government.

So far, Heru is still using an official car from the Ministry of State Affairs from his position as Head of the Presidential Secretariat.

Another thing, the DKI Provincial Government has also budgeted IDR 2.9 billion for the rehabilitation of Heru's official residence on Jalan Taman Suropati, Menteng, Central Jakarta, through this year's APBD. However, when asked, he also admitted that he did not know and would only ask for an explanation from his subordinates regarding this matter.