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Jakarta Post

EDITORIAL: Coopting local governments

Undisbursed budget funds affect development not merely because of the deferred injection of funds into the economy. 

EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, October 27, 2017

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EDITORIAL: Coopting local governments Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inspects Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta in a September, 2014 file photo. (Antara)

D

eveloping infrastructure and good communication with regional government leaders have been at the top of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s working programs from the outset of his administration. Only two weeks after his inauguration on Oct. 20, 2014, he convened a meeting with provincial governors, and only one month later, he also met with regents and mayors to discuss development and coordination issues.

Jokowi is arguably the president who has most frequently convened national meetings with regional government leaders, and one who also has most frequently visited the regions to check the progress of his signature infrastructure programs. Early this week, he again held a working session with governors, regents and mayors as part of his ongoing vertical political strategy for getting things done.

The President fully realizes that national development programs and policies would never run smoothly without good cooperation and coordination with regional governments, especially after the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001. As a former mayor of the Central Java city of Solo and former governor of Jakarta, Jokowi fully understands the needs of regional administrations.

Also encouraging is the knowledge that his meetings with regional leaders were by no means ceremonial grandstanding, but truly working conferences with vigorous, frank discussions about development and governance issues.

At the latest meeting, for example, he reprimanded regional administrations that were quite slow in implementing budgeted investment projects, pointing out that Rp 227 trillion (US$17 billion) in regional investment funds were still parked in deposit accounts as of September.

He prodded them to quickly disburse their investment funds to invigorate growth and convinced them there was no need to fear the vigorous anticorruption drive if they were complying with budget accountability standards. Thus far, 343 regents and mayors and 18 provincial governors have been jailed, are being tried at court or are being investigated as corruption suspects.

Undisbursed budget funds affect development not merely because of the deferred injection of funds into the economy. Since more than 40 percent of the national budget is under the management of regional administrations and quite a large portion of the investment budget is financed with bonds, an unused budget means the government has to pay interest charges on debts that are not producing any fiscal stimulus.

The president has often said that officials cannot be criminalized for their policy decisions if the policies are in good faith and in full accordance with the law and prevailing procedures. Regional leaders are even allowed by the 2014 Public Administration Law to take discretional policies on programs that are not yet clearly regulated, as long as the policies are carried out in good faith and in the public interest.

The rationale is that any decision is a choice made from among a number of alternatives. Decisions can involve a complex mix of facts and values, especially with regard to certain policy areas, where detailed rules or procedures are as yet unavailable, while quick decisions have to be made.

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