A proposed revision of the 2014 Village Law that would give village heads more funds and longer terms is facing mounting scrutiny, with critics describing it as pork barrel legislation aimed at winning favor with the country’s tens of thousands of village heads ahead of next year’s elections.

Lawmakers have now moved one step closer with their proposal, which first came as a response to demands from thousands of village heads who earlier this year staged protests demanding for a longer tenure and an increase in village funds.

The revision to the law seeks to bring in sweeping changes to how villages are governed. This includes doubling the allocation of village funds in the annual regional transfers from the state budget.

This year, each village is slated to get Rp 1 billion (US$66,419) through the village fund initiative, a program which was first introduced by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2015 to increase economic development throughout the country. The government allocated Rp 70 trillion ($4.6 million) to the program this year, which is 8 percent of this year’s Rp 814 trillion ($54 billion) budget for regional transfers.

But, the proposed revision aims to require an annual allocation of 20 percent from the regional transfer funds, allowing each village to receive at least Rp 2 billion ($132,869) annually in village funds.

Another major proposed change is to allow village heads to serve two nine-year terms, as opposed to the current three six-year term arrangement.

While each arrangement means that they can be in office for a maximum of 18 years on paper, lawmakers said that incumbent village heads could serve in office up to 21 years as part of a transitional period.

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