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Budget savings important but should not hurt public services

The President and Vice President must lead by example, starting from simplifying the facilities they enjoy, including vehicles, houses, salaries and escorts.

Mimin Dwi Hartono (The Jakarta Post)
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Tue, February 4, 2025

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Budget savings important but should not hurt public services Komnas HAM personnel receive a report from a group of residents on June 10, 2022. (Komnas HAM/File)

P

resident Prabowo Subianto through Presidential Instruction No.1/2025 has asked the central government and regional governments, as well as state institutions to make budget savings totaling Rp 306.69 trillion (US$19 billion) to support the government’s priority programs, including the free nutritious meal program and food and energy security.

This instruction has shaken all levels of government because it significantly reduces the budget that had been planned since 2024, except for personnel spending and the social safety net, which remained unchanged. Even though this budget savings policy is well-intentioned, it must be carefully executed, because it will have a big impact on government performance, public services and the economy.

The budget savings policy does not fall into the category of an emergency, so it must be implemented carefully and measurably, so as not to reduce the fulfillment and protection of human rights. This was different during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022 where budget savings were aimed at emergency handling of the pandemic so that its legitimacy was clearer and stronger to protect public health.

In terms of public services, budget savings have cut budget components whose scheme is to serve the public, including official travel and procurement of goods and services. For example, the task of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), as an independent state institution to carry out monitoring, investigation, supervision and mediation as regulated in Law No. 39/1999 on human rights will not be realized optimally because it cannot travel to the regions where human rights violations occur. In fact, the field trips are very crucial for the commission to verify various complaints about human rights violations.

Every year, Komnas HAM receives thousands of cases of human rights violations, which allegedly occur in provinces across the country and affect tens of thousands of people. Reductions in the state budget carried out uniformly without paying attention to the characteristics of the functions and authority of ministries/institutions will certainly pose a risk and danger, because they will impact the state's performance in serving the public, which in the case of Komnas HAM are victims of human rights violations. Institutions like Komnas HAM must be given an adequate budget because they are tasked with supervising government performance.

From an economic perspective, savings will definitely have an effect. It cannot be denied that government activities through official travel, meeting packages and procurement of goods and services have contributed to boosting the local and national economy. For this reason, potential disruption to the economy must be anticipated through well-planned and managed steps so that community businesses can continue.

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We agree that there is much inefficiency in state budget management, as happens in ministries, state institutions and regional governments, as per the findings of the Supreme Audit Agency, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency, the National Police, the Prosecutor's Office and even the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). These inefficiencies must be explored and identified so that cuts hit components that waste money and are inefficient, not by making cuts haphazardly.

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