JAKARTA: Earlier this month, Indonesian civil servant Kardiani (not her real name) found the supply of drinking water and toilet paper at her office restricted.
Most lights in the restrooms are now switched off, and use of the printer is tightly regulated.
“Now at 4pm, the air conditioning must be turned off, and only one elevator remains operational. Sometimes, we even have to use the freight elevator,” she said. Depending on their workload, she and her colleagues may end work only at 6pm or 7pm.
“We even have to pitch in to buy drinking water,” Kardiani told CNA, requesting anonymity as she is not authorised to speak to the media.
Kardiani, 30, works at the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, one of many ministries affected by President Prabowo Subianto’s budget efficiency directive issued on Jan 23.
The president ordered a 256 trillion rupiah (US$15.76 billion) budget cut for ministries and state agencies, along with a 50 trillion rupiah reduction in central government transfers to regional administrations.
The cuts aim to save a total of 306.6 trillion rupiah in state funds in the first of three phases, he said. The first phase of cuts amounts to about 8.5 per cent of Indonesia’s 2025 budget proposed in August last year.
In the second phase, the government is gunning for another 308 trillion rupiah in savings, of which 58 trillion rupiah will be re-allocated among ministries and agencies.
And by this year, the government plans to utilise 200 trillion rupiah of the 300 trillion rupiah in dividends that state-owned enterprises are expected to generate, Prabowo said.
“In total, we will have 750 trillion rupiah,” Prabowo reportedly said last Saturday (Feb 15) at the 17th anniversary celebration of his Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party.
His directive in January did not state the rationale for the budget cuts. But news outlets reported that the savings would be channelled to his administration’s flagship free nutritious meals initiative as well as Danantara, Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund to be launched on Feb 24.
“Our people, our children, must not go hungry,” said Prabowo at the Gerindra event, as reported by news site Kompas.
In line with his directive, the Ministry of Finance helmed by Sri Mulyani Indrawati has implemented spending cuts across 16 budget categories. These include reductions in official travel, consultancy services, ceremonial events, meetings, seminars and office supplies.
According to news reports, the cuts affect most of Indonesia’s 48 ministries as well as other government agencies.
Only 16 entities including the People’s Consultative Assembly, the House of Representatives, the Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the National Police and the newly established National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the free meals programme, are not impacted.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-prabowo-budget-cuts-government-ministries-toilet-paper-water-lights-4943966
