Invited By Nadiem To Inaugurate The Indonesiana Fund, Sri Mulyani Remembers Childhood: I'm Dejavu See Piggy Bank Kendi

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (right) with Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim when inaugurating the Indonesiana Fund (Photo: Screenshot of @smindrawati)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani accompanied the Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim in the inauguration of the Indonesiana Fund. On that occasion, the Minister of Finance found one interesting thing.

The moment occurred when he and Nadiem broke two piggy banks as a symbol of ratification of the formation of the Indonesiana Fund.

"I deja vu to see the jar of piggy banks being broken as a symbol of the presence of the cultural endowment fund," he said via Instagram @smindrawati quoted Friday, March 25.

According to the Minister of Finance, budget support for aspects of education and culture is the government's commitment to advancing human resources (HR).

"The formation of the Indonesiana Fund is an implementation of the state in carrying out the mandate of the Constitution, namely that 20 percent of the APBN must be allocated for education, including research and culture," he said.

He said, according to President Joko Widodo's direction, in 2019 the establishment of a cultural endowment fund had been designed with a minimum allocation target of IDR 5 trillion.

"The plan is starting to be realized through the 2020 Fiscal Year State Budget and 2021 State Budget, which has now collected Rp 3 trillion. Before the Indonesiana Fund was formed, the cultural endowment fund was deposited in a 'piggy bank' in the form of a BLU, namely LPDP," he said.

The Minister of Finance continued, even though it had just been inaugurated, the government's support and concern for culture as well as artists had been carried out for a long time. This support is channeled through various work programs of ministries and institutions, one of which is through the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"Indonesiana funds will be entrusted to culturalists to be managed as an artistic and cultural activity program. Because these funds are sourced from the APBN which are collected including from taxes paid by the people, of course their use must be properly accounted for, "he said.

The state treasurer hopes that this noble plan can be supported by all citizens so that the goals of developing and improving the quality of human resources can be achieved properly.

“Hopefully, with the formation of an official 'piggy bank', the cultural endowment fund will further encourage various arts and cultural activities that will bring progress to the Indonesian nation. From Merdeka Learning the eighteenth episode: Freedom of Culture with Indonesian Funds," concluded the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.