TIME.CO, Jakarta -The special staff of the Minister of Finance, Yustinus Prastowo called the protest Regent of Meranti regarding oil and gas revenue sharing (DBH) as an example of regional heads not understanding their region.
“Protest, oil lift as if taken in the center. Let’s open the data. If we give it back to Meranti, Meranti will get around IDR 400 billion,” Prastowo said in a discussion forum at Bintang Baru Hotel Jakarta on Saturday, December 17, 2022.
In fact, Prastowo continued, the central government provides funds to Meranti in the amount of IDR 870 billion every year. Meanwhile, the regional budget of Meranti was recorded at IDR 1.1 trillion. That is, if Meranti chooses what he can give back, Meranti will have only IDR 400 billion.
“Tomorrow Tuesday we will have a meeting at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministry of Internal Affairs),” Prastowo said.
The bustle between the Regent of Meranti and Ministry of Finance happened in the last 10 days. Meranti Regent Muhammad Adil issued a statement and called Finance Ministry employees devils or demons at a regional spending management coordination meeting across Indonesia in Pekanbaru, Dec. 8, 2022. Adil said assessed that the Ministry of Finance had made profits from the exploitation of oil in the area it leads.
He expressed his disappointment to the Director General of Fiscal Budget of the Ministry of Finance, Lucky Alfirman, who was present. In the question and answer session, Adil questioned the matter Profit sharing fund oil in the Meranti Islands to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Finance.
“This financial person is full of the devil or demons. Do not take more oil from Meranti. It’s okay, we can still eat too. Instead of our money being sucked into the centre,” Adil said in a 1 minute 55 second video circulating on social media.
According to Adil, the area he leads is a poor area which should be a priority for the central government. He also complains that the regional government cannot move freely in developing areas and improve many people’s lives because the central government is sucking up natural resources.
“How we want to build houses, how we raise the poor, the fishermen, the farmers, the workers,” Adil said.
Meanwhile, Lucky Alfirman said transfers to regions (TKDs) are not just from profit sharing funds or DBHs. Lucky explained that many policies were implemented, one of which was to use a portion of state revenue. The Ministry of Finance wants to ensure that regional governments can provide public services to each region as part of the implementation of fiscal decentralization.
In 2022 we will allocate Rp. 804 trillion in the form of TKD, no joke. Next year we will allocate Rp again. TKD 814 trillion will be distributed to the regions,” he said in a press conference at the Ministry of Finance, Central Jakarta on Friday, December 16, 2022.
This, said Lucky, was contained in the Law No. 1 of 2022 relating to financial relations between the central government and regional governments (HKPD) which was formulated by the central government.
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